Strike Witches: Return
by Doran Maya
Summary: In the spring reunion of 1952, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing mysteriously disappears. Sixty years later in 2012, thirteen signatures register on radar in the skies of Fuso. These thirteen radar hits are none other than the Legendary Strike Witches. - Sequel to Strike Witches: Worldwide Liberation and rewrite of Strike Witches: The Neuroi Rebellion. -
1. Fuso Arc: Chapter 1: Reunion

******Disclaimer: I do not own the Strike Witches franchise or any of the concepts and characters of said franchise. I do own all of the OCs and concepts created by me for this story. This disclaimer covers every chapter that has been or will be released for this story.**

* * *

**Hello! Welcome to_ Strike Witches: Return_! This story is the rewrite of_ Strike Witches: The Neuroi Rebellion_ and is a direct sequel to _Strike Witches: Worldwide Liberation_. This time around, I am taking the story much more carefully. I may have said it will take awhile to rewrite it, but inspiration struck. In the short time span of a few nights, I was able to come up with a very large portion of the plot for this story as well as a new twist. I could tell you what that is... but you'll find out below. Enjoy!**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 1: Reunion

April 5th, 1952

* * *

"Lynne!" Yoshika said as she ran up to her best friend. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Lynne and Yoshika hugged each other. "How have you all been?"

"Things have been good." Yoshika said. "We've been seeing fewer patients at the clinic, but I suppose that's a good thing."

"What about me?" Rei said in a slightly jealous and poutful tone.

"Hi, Rei!" Lynne said as she turned to Rei for a hug. "Your belly is small! You had your baby!"

"Guilty as charged!" Rei said. "Yoshika, where's mom at?"

"Right here." Kye said as she walked up behind the girls. She was holding Rei's baby, and her granddaughter.

"Is that yours?" Lynne asked, directing her question to Rei.

"Yep!" Rei said. "Meet Kamiko Miyafuji. She was born February the 17th."

One young girl ran up to the group, followed by Mio Sakamoto and another young girl.

"Momma, momma, I brought Miss Mio here!" one of the young girls said as she started clinging to Yoshika.

"Oh?" Yoshika said as she turned to find Mio.

"Your daughter has a lot of energy." Mio said in between breaths. "She made us run all the way here from the clinic."

"I'm sorry!" Yoshika said. "But thanks for going to pick her up for me."

"No problem." Mio said after she caught her breath. "Any word on when everyone will get here?"

"Other than the few of us right here, Minna, Erica, Trude, Sanya, and Eila are on base." Kye said. "I believe they are unloading their gear right now. We are still waiting on Perrine, Shirley, and Lucchini to arrive."

As soon as Kye had finished her statement, they heard a plane flying in.

"That must be them." Kye said. "Shall we go meet them?"

"I wanna meet them!" Nori said excitedly.

"Let's go then." Mio said.

* * *

"Hey, everyone!" Shirley said as she jumped out of the plane, soon followed by Lucchini and Perrine. "How's it going?"

"Good!" Yoshika said. "And you?"

"Great!" Shirley said. "I just broke the flying speed record last week!"

"I heard about that." Mio said. "You used the... what was it."

"Lockheed A-12." Shirley said. "It's an experimental jet striker geared toward reconnaissance.

"Hey, everyone!" Minna said as she, Trude, and Erica walked up to the group. "It's good to see everyone. I trust you've all been doing good?"

"All the time." Kye said. "And you?"

"Same old." Minna said.

"BIG SIS TRUDY!" Ayame said as she ran up to Trude and effectively tackled her.

"Hi, squirt." Trude said. "How are you?"

"I'm a big girl now!" Ayame said. "Momma showed me how to heal!"

"Is that so?" Trude said. "I'm proud of you, squirt."

Ayame grinned happily after hearing praise from Trude.

"She sure does like Trude." Mio said.

"Trude always play with her while she is here." Yoshika said. "Ayame sees her as a sister."

"She likes Chris, too." Minna said. "It's too bad we couldn't bring Chris with us this time. She's in school studying."

"That's a bummer." Rei said.

Kye clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "I have a surprise for everyone. The third generation strikers are ready. Ichiro just finished them last month."

"I can't wait to test them out." Trude said.

"How about it then?" Mio said. "Let's have a mock battle with them."

"To the hangar!" Kye said. "Ichiro should be waiting for us there."

Trude bent down in front of Ayame. "Hop up!"

"Piggyback!" Ayame said excitedly as she jump onto Trude's back.

Ichiro greeted the witches and showed the new strikers to them as soon as they entered the hangar.

"Shiden Kai 3." Mio said quietly as she looked upon the striker meant for her.

"Shinden 3." Yoshika said. She placed her hand on the striker meant for her and closed her eye.

"What's she doing?" Nori asked.

"She's saying hello to the striker." Mio said.

"But strikers don't talk!" Nori said.

"They don't have to, sweetie." Kye said. "For Yoshika, a striker is part of herself."

Yoshika's ears and tail popped out as she got ready to jump into the striker.

"Yoshika." Ichiro said. "She wants to fly."

"And so we shall." Yoshika said.

Everyone equipped their strikers and grabbed their weapons. Yoshika had Jouten and Tenshimaru strapped to her back. Kye, Mio, and Rei each had their swords as well. Kye and Yoshika originally were the only two who wielded two swords, but Kye has since crafted a twin for Mio's Reppumaru and a twin Rei's Tenraimaru. Not just Yoshika, Kye, Mio, and Rei had their weapons, but the other witches also took up various weapons, which Kye helped them craft. Minna and Erica took to wielding enchanted glaives. Trude now wore enchanted gauntlets and had become skilled in hand to hand combat. Perrine carried an enchanted rapier. Lynne carried a bow. She carried no quiver, but used magic as her arrows, which coupled with her Ballistic Stabilization were very powerful. Sanya had taken a liking to a large enchanted mace, feeling similar to her Fliegerhammer in power. Eila wielded an enchanted staff, simple but versatile. Shirley carried only her favorite rifle, which had been enchanted by Kye. She can now shoot magic infused bullets for greater damage. Lucchini, like Trude, took to unarmed combat. She had a pair of fingerless enchanted gloves instead of gauntlets.

Ichiro held little Kamiko, and to his side was Ayame and Nori, each waving at the witches as they took to the sky.

A thick cloud bank covered a several kilometer radius around Yokosuka, so everyone flew above them to have their mock battle.

* * *

Thirty minutes later...

"Dr. Miyafuji, have you heard from the witches?" A high ranking soldier asked.

"They haven't come back yet, General Hashimoto." Ichiro said.

The general had an uneasy look on his face. "The witches dropped off the radar."

"What do you mean?" Ichiro asked.

"I happened to have been looking over at the radar." Hashimoto said. "Their radar signatures were directly above the base when they vanished, so I figured they came in to land, but I did not hear their strikers, which is why I came here to look for them."

"Odd." Ichiro said.

"I double checked and triple checked." Hashimoto said. "I had the closest bases around and the few carriers we have out in the nearby seas check their radars for hits on them, but all of them drew blanks. It's like they just vanished. They aren't on radar within five hundred kilometers of here."

"This is not good." Ichiro said. "Can you contact bases further away and check with them?"

"I'm having my radio man do that as we speak." Hashimoto said. As he said that, a soldier ran up to Ichiro and Hashimoto.

"Sir, I have a report from the bases across Fuso." The young soldier said.

"Go ahead." Hashimoto said.

"No bases across the country have any hits for the witches on their radars." The soldier reported.

"I'm worried." Ichiro said.

"I am, too." Hashimoto said. "I'm going to dispatch a search and rescue team."

"I'll contact Xala." Ichiro said. "She and her allied neuroi may be able to help find them."

"Good." Hashimoto said.

* * *

In the sky...

"This is General Sakamoto reporting in." Mio said. "We just finished up our mock battle and are ready to land, please keep any outbound planes grounded until we land."

She had no response.

"Hello?" Mio said. She turned to Minna and Kye. "I'm getting nothing but static."

"Same here." Kye said.

* * *

Sixty years later...

"General Yamanashi, we have bogeys on the radar." A soldier reported.

"How many?" Yamanashi asked.

"Thirteen." The soldier said. "They just appeared out of nowhere above the base."

"Odd." Yamanashi said. "Send the Miyafuji twins and the Akiyama twins up to investigate. They are cleared to engage, weapons free at their discretion."

"Yes, sir." The soldier said as he relayed the order to the four in question.

"I'll go, too." A girl, roughly twenty, said. "Somebody has to look out for those girls.

"As you wish, Colonel Yusu Miyafuji." Yamanashi said.

Yusu arrived at the hangar and found her cousins, the Miyafuji twins, and the Akiyama twins waiting for her. Each of them had a sword strapped to their backs.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Yusu asked.

"Roger." One of the Miyafuji twins said.

"Activating Air Bands." Yusu said. She wore armbands on each wrist, similar bands on her lower leg just above the ankle, and a special belt. All four bands and the belt glowed for a brief moment, signifying their activation. The other four girls followed suit. "Let's go!"

The five girls ran out of the hangar and jumped in the air, taking off using their Air Bands.

"The bogeys are probably above the cloud bank, so just follow me up there." Yusu said. "Get ready for possible anti neuroi combat."

* * *

In the sky...

Sanya's Magic Antenna flickered from green to blue. "Somebody is coming. There." She pointed down at the clouds.

Five figures emerged from the clouds. Yoshika and Kye both had their hands on their sword's hilts, ready for anything.

"They are human!" One of the five girls said.

"I read that!" Mio said. "Can you hear us?"

"I heard that." Their leader said. "Who are you?"

That question struck Mio as odd. "I am General Sakamoto, and we are the Strike Witches. Surely you know that." Mio noticed the five girls were flying without strikers and immediately became suspicious. "How are you flying?"

"They have no strikers!" Yoshika said.

"One moment please." Their leader said. "General Yamanashi, do you come in?"

"Yes, Colonel Yusu, report!" Yamanashi said.

"Miyafuji?" Rei said quietly before glancing over to Kye and Yoshika. Both of them returned confused glances to her.

"The thirteen bogeys are witches." Yusu said. "One of them claims to be General Sakamoto and also claims they are collectively the Strike Witches."

"Impossible." Yamanashi said. "The Strike Witches disappeared sixty years ago!"

"I don't believe it either, but they are witches either way." Yusu said. "Should I bring them down to the base?"

"Yes." Yamanashi said.

"Will do, General." Yusu said. She turned back to the witches. "I assume you heard that?"

"Yes." Kye said. She flew closer to Yusu. "We were just about to return to base, but who are you? And how are you flying without a striker?"

Yusu placed her hand on the hilt of her sword and held her free hand out. "Stop. Keep your distance."

"Who are you?" Kye asked again.

"I am Colonel Yusu Miyafuji." Yusu said. "My four subordinates are Captain Kaylie Miyafuji, Captain Layla Miyafuji, Captain Kiyoko Akiyama, and Captain Mei Akiyama. Kiyoko goes by Yoko for short. Would you mind stating all of your names?"

"I am Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji." Kye said. "These are..." She was cut off by Yusu.

"What?" Yusu said. "I don't know what game you are playing, but you are not Kye Miyafuji. She died sixty years ago."

Kye was confused, as were the rest of the witches. "How could I have died sixty years ago? I'm only thirty four years old."

"That's how old she was when she died." Yusu said.

"Yusu, we don't know if they actually died." Kaylie said.

"Yeah, I know." Yusu said. "Grandma Ayame said they just vanished."

Yoshika's ears perked when she heard Ayame's name. "What are you talking about?" Kye asked.

"You claim to be the Strike Witches, correct?" Yusu said.

"That's right." Kye said. "I say that because we are the Strike Witches. Formally, we are the World's Allied Forces 501st Joint Fighter Wing. We just finished our mock battle up here and were about to head back to base."

"That's just not possible." Yusu said. "The entire 501st disappeared in these skies sixty years ago. There's no way you can be them."

"I could say the same for you." Kye said. "Yusu left us in 1945, seven years ago."

"Seven years ago?" Yusu said. "1945 was SIXTY seven years ago."

"Your math is a bit off." Kye said. "1945 to 1952 is only seven years."

"1952?" Yusu said. "This is 2012."

"What?" Kye said. "This is 1952. You need to stop playing games with us."

"Just follow me to the base." Yusu said. "We'll get this worked out on the ground."

"So be it." Kye said.

Yusu turned and flew down toward the cloud, followed the the two sets of twins and the thirteen confused witches.

* * *

"General Yamanashi, these are the 'bogeys' we found above the base." Yusu said after landing in the hangar where Yamanashi was waiting. "I don't recognize them, but they claim to be the Strike Witches."

"Impossible." Yamanashi said. He turned to the witches. "How dare you call yourselves that. Do you not realize that you are tarnishing the reputation of the thirteen legendary witches? I could have you all court martialed for pulling that stunt."

Kye noticed the rank insignia on Yamanashi's uniform. "Sir, you don't have the authority to do that."

"I don't?" Yamanashi said. "I am the head of this base. I have absolute authority here."

"Not over us you don't." Kye said. "You are a Major General. I am a Lieutenant General. I out rank you."

"There are no witches in any military around the world with a rank so high." Yamanashi said. He snapped his fingers, and immediately several assault rifle wielding soldiers surrounded them. "I don't know who you really are, but it is clear you are impersonating and tarnishing the greatest witches to have ever walked the earth."

"Impersonating?" Kye said. "Where is General Hashimoto? He'll clear this up."

"He died in 1995." Yamanashi said.

"1995?" Kye said. "That's forty three years from now."

"That was seventeen years ago, actually." Yamanashi said. "Now tell me who you really are."

"I am Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji and Supreme Command of the Joint Fighter Wings." Kye said. "Formally General of the Allied Forces."

"If you insist on keeping up your imposter charade, I have no choice but to treat you as enemies." Yamanashi said. "It's a shame, too. We could use every witch we can get with the war going on." He glanced over to one of the soldiers with a rifle. "Kill the leader first, you are cleared to fire."

The soldier immediately opened fire at Kye, but his bullets were stopped in their tracks by Kye's aura.

"That aura..." Yusu said. "Impossible. The only witches capable of auras are dead, or missing as is the 501st's case."

"But we are not missing!" Yoshika said. "We are right here! I'm Yoshika Miyafuji!"

Yusu's eyes instantly had the look of a killer. She had her sword drawn and was in mid attack in less than a second. "How dare you call yourself by my great grandmother's name!"

Yoshika blocked Yusu's attack with ease.

"Your great grandmother?" Yoshika said. "I'm not old enough to be a great grandmother! My daughter, Ayame, is only four years old!"

"Grandma Ayame is sixty four years old!" Yusu said.

"What can I do to prove that I'm Yoshika Miyafuji?" Yoshika asked.

"Can you use auras, too?" Yusu asked.

"Yes." Yoshika said.

"Then activate the sixth aura." Yusu said.

"Okay." Yoshika said. "But we may want to go outside first. I might accidentally tear up the hangar if I activate it in here." She turned and headed out of the hangar, followed by her several onlookers.

"Show us." Yusu said.

"I'll go through each aura progressively." Yoshika said as she activated the basic golden aura. "Here goes." She activated the green aura next, then the blue aura, then the dark red aura and the white aura.

"White..." Yusu said, astonished. "Impossible."

After a few more seconds, Yoshika pushed her aura up and beyond to the True Golden Aura. The concrete under her feet cracked from the extreme pressure of her aura.

"Impossible." Yusu said as she fell to her knees. "Then that sword?"

"Yes, young Yusu." Jouten spoke. "I am the sword known as Jouten."

"It spoke..." Yusu said. "Only the sword enchanted by the Ancient Yoshika Miyafuji and the Goddess Kye Akari is capable of that. There's no doubt, that sword is Jouten." Yusu turned to one of the soldiers nearby. "Go call my Grandma Ayame. Now. Get her down here immediately."

"Get Grandma Kamiko, too." Kaylie said, shocking Kye and Rei.

"And Grandma Nori." Yoko said, giving Mio a shock as well.

"Ayame must be so old now." Yoshika said. She turned to the other witches. "I don't know how, but I think we just skipped sixty years."

"That would begin to explain how they fly without a striker." Kye said.

"We use Air Bands." Yusu said. She pointed to the four bands and belt she was wearing. "They are basically advanced striker unit technology. Using magic we can fly with only these on."

"Interesting." Trude said. "That would give one hell of an edge in battle. Imagine the maneuverability with one of those."

"I'll believe what you say after my grandmother gets here and confirms your identity." Yusu said. "Until then, I'm going to wait."

"Do you really think we just time traveled?" Mio asked, directing her question at Yoshika.

"I-I don't know." Yoshika said.

"It's the only explanation." Kye said. "We say it's 1952, they say it's 2012. At every step of our conversation, they say this is 2012 and we disappeared sixty years ago."

"We did get cut off from the base, but time travel?" Minna said. "This is hard to believe."

"I don't get it." Erica said.

"How can they not believe us?" Shirley said. "Do they not know what we look like?"

"They may not have seen photos of us." Mio said.

"I don't see how not." Shirley said. "I'm on a magazine cover in Liberion."

"Shirley, this is weird!" Lucchini said in her usual pouty tone.

"I don't get it either." Shirley said.

A few minutes later, three older women approached the group, escorted by soldiers. One of them set her eyes on Yoshika and immediately went wide-eyed.

"Ayame?" Yoshika said. "I recognize you anywhere. We really must have time traveled..."

"Mom!" Ayame said as she ran up to Yoshika. "You're alive... but you're so young? You look exactly how you did all those years ago." She glanced over into the hangar and noticed the striker units. "Those strikers... they are the strikers Grandpa Ichiro made... but how is this possible?"

"Is dad still alive?" Yoshika asked. "What about mom? And grandma?"

"Grandpa Ichiro and Grandma Sayaka are still alive." Ayame said. "They are both over a hundred years old, but they refuse to die. Great Grandma Yoshiko died a few years after you went missing. Your disappearance hurt her a lot. She couldn't handle it. You should come see Grandma and Grandpa. They still live at the clinic."

"Of course." Yoshika said.

"Miss Yoshika." Yamanashi said. "You aren't cleared to leave the base. I'm afraid we have to go through an investigation to prove your identities first."

Yoshika had her sword drawn and pointed at Yamanashi, and had an extremely angry look about her face. "You will not keep me from seeing my parents."

"Yamanashi, stand down." Ayame said. "I have the authority to take her with me, seeing how I outrank you."

"Pulling rank on me are you, Lieutenant General Miyafuji?" Yamanashi said.

"That's right." Ayame said. "I'll vouch for everyone else as well. They are none other than the Legendary Strike Witches. I remember all of them very clearly."

"So be it." Yamanashi said.

"Grandma, I'm coming, too." Yusu said.

"Of course, Yusu dear." Ayame said. She turned back to the witches. "All of you are welcome to come, but I only require Kye, Rie, and Mio." She turned back and headed toward the truck which she arrived in. "Kamiko, Nori, let's go."

"I want to go, too." Kaylie said.

"Well, you five fly there." Ayame said. "There's limited space in the truck."

"Okay." Yusu said. "We'll see you at home."

She and the other four Air Band using girls took off in the direction of the Miyafuji Clinic. Ayame and the others jumped in the truck and headed that way as well.

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Ayame Miyafuji - Born October 7, 1947 - Daughter of Yoshika Miyafuji  
Kamiko Miyafuji - Born February 17, 1952 - Daughter of Rei Miyafuji  
Nori Sakamoto - Born July 26, 1946 - Daughter of Mio Sakamoto  
General Hashimoto - Major General of the Imperial Fuso Navy as of 1952.  
Yusu Miyafuji - Born February 20, 1992 - Great Granddaughter of Yoshika Miyafuji, Granddaughter of Ayame Miyafuji  
Kaylie Miyafuji - Born June 4th, 1995 - Great Granddaughter of Rei Miyafuji, Granddaughter of Kamiko Miyafuji  
Layla Miyafuji - ****Born June 4th, 1995 - Great Granddaughter of Rei Miyafuji, Granddaughter of Kamiko Miyafuj**i  
Kiyoko Akiyama - Born October 8, 1994 - Great Granddaughter of Mio Sakamoto, Granddaughter of Nori Sakamoto  
Mei Akiyama - **Born October 8, 1994 - Great Granddaughter of Mio Sakamoto, Granddaughter of Nori Sakamoto**  
General Yamanashi - Brigadier General of the Imperial Fuso Navy as of 2012.

* * *

**Characters Not Mentioned  
**

**Alina Wilcke - Born June 11, 1946 - Daughter of Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke  
Sieglinde "Linda" Barkhorn - Born May 20, 1946 - Daughter of Gertrude Barkhorn  
Isabel "Bell" Hartmann - Born September 19, 1946 - Daughter of Erica Hartmann  
Allison "Ally" Yeager - Born October 26, 1946 - Daughter of Charlotte "Shirley" Yeager  
Luciana Lucchini - Born November 18, 1949 - Daughter of Francesca Lucchini  
Louise H. Clostermann (Henriette) - Born February 16, 1947 - Daughter of Perrine H. Clostermann  
Diana Bishop - Born May 5, 1947 - Daughter of Lynette Bishop  
Anna V. Litvyak (Anastasiya Viktoriya Litvyak) - Born December 16, 1947 - Daughter of Sanya V. Litvyak  
Aina Illmatar Juutilainen - Born November 21, 1946 - Daughter of Eila Illmatar Juutilainen  
Unnamed Daughter of Ayame Miyafuji - Born in the year 1970  
Unnamed Daughter of Kamiko Miyafuji - Born in the year 1973 - Married a Liberion man, but kept Miyafuji name.  
Unnamed Daughter of Nori Sakamoto - Born in the year 1971 - Took husbands last name (Akiyama)  
**

* * *

**Abilities Introduced  
**

**None  
**

* * *

**Equipment Introduced  
**

**Twin Sword of Reppumaru  
**

**Twin Sword of Tenraimaru  
**

**Third Generation Jet Strikers - Included are the Shinden 3 and Shiden Kai 3.  
**

**Air Band - Wristband, Anklet, and Belt that in unison provide flight ability superior to a striker unit.**

* * *

**Well there we have it. Chapter 1 of _Strike Witches: Return_. I have a good feeling about this story! Hope you enjoy it! The A/N of the next chapter will feature full profiles of Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Kiyoko, and Mei, as they will be main characters that will participate in battles with the Strike Witches. The twelve daughters of the Strike Witches are in their sixties in this rewrite, so they will not be participating in any battles. Also, before anyone points out that Kaylie and Layla Miyafuji have Liberion/American first names and Fuso/Japan last names, their father is from Liberion and thier mother is a Miyafuji.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

**If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).  
**


	2. Chapter 2: 501st in 2012

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 2: 501st in 2012

April 5th, 2012

* * *

"Mom!" Yoshika called out as she entered the Miyafuji clinic. "Dad!"

"They are in here." Ayame said. She led Yoshika and the others to the room with Ichiro and Sayaka.

Yoshika gasped when she saw her sleeping parents. "They're so old."

"They are over a hundred years old." Ayame said.

"I missed so much." Yoshika said.

"Sixty years is a big chunk of skipped time." Kye said. "Just think. You would be eighty two and I would be ninety four by now if we hadn't time traveled."

"I'm glad you showed up when you did." Ayame said. "They are both on their deathbeds, sick with I don't know what. I wish I could help them, but I never did get very good with healing magic and they won't let me take them to a hospital."

"I'll do it." Yoshika said as she adorned her animal features and activated a powerful healing spell. After a few moments of healing, both Ichiro and Sayaka opened their eyes. "Mom, Dad."

Sayaka was speechless upon seeing Yoshika, and Ichiro wasn't much better.

"Yoshika?" Ichiro said. He tried to lean up, but was too weak to do so.

"I'll help you, brother, don't push yourself." Kye said as she helped him sit up.

"Kye?" Ichiro said. "Is it really you? You look so young."

"We... uh..." Kye said. "It's only been a few hours for us, but sixty years have passed for you. I have no idea how, but we time traveled from August 5th, 1952 to August 5th, 2012."

"That would explain how you disappeared from the radar that day." Ichiro said, recalling his memory of sixty years ago. "You certainly missed a lot."  
Sayaka sat up with Yoshika's help. "Thanks, dear."

"Mom." Yoshika said. "What happened to grandma? Ayame told me she died a few years after we disappeared."

"She got sick." Sayaka said. "She wouldn't let me heal her. She said she wanted to let go so she could go see you."

"But I never died." Yoshika said. "She can't rest in peace if she didn't find me on the other side."

"She's fine, Yoshika." An ominous, but familiar voice called out.

"Goddess." Kye said.

The Goddess Kye Akari appeared in the room. "Yes. I was wondering when you all would show up."

"You knew about this?" Kye asked.

"Yes." The Goddess said.

"Can you send us back?" Kye asked.

"I cannot." The Goddess said. "The one who transported you through time was Xera. She's above me."

"I see." Kye said.

The goddess turned to Yoshika. "Don't worry, Yoshika. Your grandmother knows you are alive and well. I made sure to pay her a visit before coming here."

"Thank you." Yoshika said.

"I suppose you would like to know why you were transported through time?" The Goddess asked.

"Yes." Kye, Mio, Yoshika, and Rei said simultaneously.

"War." The Goddess said, earning a look of surprise from each witch. "There is a war going on right now, and humanity is losing pretty badly. Witches in this day and age are not as powerful as they were in your day, save a handful." She glanced at Yusu and her team, also earning surprised looks from them.

"Are we here to liberate the planet again?" Kye asked.

"The basic answer is yes." The Goddess said. "The complicated answer is this. You are here to give the forces of earth a fighting chance. The neuroi are far more powerful than the ones you fought in the past. Even so, most neuroi won't be able to shine a light at any of the thirteen Strike Witches. You can, however, expect most neuroi to be at the minimum of twice as powerful as their predecessors. That includes their current leader." She turned to Kye specifically. "You know about Zen Energy, correct?"

"Yes." Kye said.

"The Zen Reppuzan will be your key to winning ." The Goddess said. "Beyond that, I can't tell you anything. I'm pushing the line saying even that."

"If what you say is true then any information at all is helpful." Kye said. "Thank you for giving us that much."

"I'm sorry I can't stay longer, but I'm not exactly supposed to be here." The Goddess said. "I'm probably going to get an earful from Xera when I get back. Oh, and Yusu, I expect great things from you! Good luck." In an instant, she was gone.

"A visit from the Goddess..." Yusu said.

"Yoshika, Kye, it's good you are back." Ichiro said. "I was worried about those five going into this war alone."

"But, Grandpa, we have to go." Yusu said. "We have to protect everyone."

"I know that, Yusu." Ichiro said with a smile on his face. "You are just like Yoshika." Yoshika's cheeks were instantly red.

"Together, I know you can stop the neuroi." Sayaka said.

"I will." Yoshika and Yusu said together. They looked at each other.

"What's Zen Energy?" Mio said. "And what's the Zen Reppuzan?"

"We can talk about that later." Kye said. "For now..." She was cut off by a loud siren.

"Neuroi!" Yusu said. "Let's go, girls."

"Wait!" Layla said. "Is my bow here?"

"It's in the front room." Ayame said.

"Thanks!" Layla said as she followed the others out of the room.

"Kye!" Yoshika said.

"Right." Kye said.

"Kye, Mio, do you come in?" Minna called through the intercom."

"I read you loud and clear, Minna." Mio said.

"Good." Minna said. "We are bringing your strikers to you at the clinic. There are a large amount of neuroi incoming from the south."

"Yusu and her team just left to go after them." Mio said.

"Good." Minna said. "We'll be joining them. We'll be at the clinic in a minute."

"Roger." Mio said. She turned to Kye, Yoshika, and Rei. "You heard that, right?"

"Yes." Kye said. "Let's go."

Yoshika turned to her parents. "I'll be back."

"Go get them, Yoshika." Ichiro said.

"Be safe." Sayaka said.

"I will, Mom, Dad." Yoshika said as she ran out of the room following Mio and the others.

* * *

Minna's group arrived at the clinic shortly after Kye, Yoshika, Mio, and Rei ran outside. They hopped into their strikers and took off. After a few minutes of flight, they caught up to Yusu and company.

"Hey, we're here to help." Yoshika called.

"Oh, y-yes." Yusu said. Yoshika noticed she was nervous. "What's wrong?"

"Huh?" Yusu said.

"You're all nervous." Yoshika said. "You can't fight the neuroi like that."

"Oh, I kn-know." Yusu stuttered. "It's just..."

"Flying with the legendary witches is a little intimidating for us." Kaylie called out. "And Yusu is even more so. She's idolized you since we were kids."

"I see." Yoshika said. She immediately thought of something. "Yusu, I'm just another witch flying with you."

"Yeah, an overpowered witch." Rei said.

"You're not helping." Yoshika said.

"Sorry." Rei said in a teasing tone.

"Yusu, just treat us as you would any other squadron of witches." Mio said. "At heart, we're no better any any other witches."

"I can't look at you as just any other witch, though." Yusu said. "You all saved the world in the Great Neuroi War."

"Now you stop that!" Yoshika said. "You need to have more confidence in yourself. We all started out the same way. We are no better than you."

Yusu was speechless at Yoshika's words.

"If you think you aren't good enough to fly with us, prove yourself wrong!" Yoshika said.

"That's right." Kye said. "You are a Miyafuji, too, after all."

"Oh, that's right." Yoshika said. "You're my great granddaughter. Even more reason! Make us proud!"

"I will!" Yusu said with confidence.

"That's our Yusu." Kaylie said.

"Neuroi ahead, ten kilometers." Mei said.

Mio noticed Mei was using a magic eye.

"She's right." Sanya said. "I'm detecting sixty neuroi."

"Most of them are Class Three and Four, but a few are Class Six." Mei said.

"Class?" Minna said.

"That's right." Mei said. "We grade neuroi in strength ranging from Class One to Class Ten with Ten being the strongest. We have only ever battled a Class Seven before."

"How can you tell how powerful they are?" Mio asked.

"My Magic Eye." Mei said. "I can read the energy levels of a neuroi with my eye, but unlike you I cannot pinpoint the exact location of the core, I can only see the general vicinity of it."

"I see." Mio said.

"We should be arriving in about a minute at our current pace." Yoko said. "Weapons free?"

"Weapons and swords free." Yusu said. "Usage of the Reppuzan is authorized only against the Class Six targets. Layla, you take the first shot."

"Yes, ma'am." Layla said. She pulled her bow off her back and held it at a ready position as she continued to fly.

"Contact in twenty seconds." Yoko said.

A mass of neuroi could be seen not far away.

"Everyone stop here." Yusu said. "Layla, you're up."

"On it." Layla said. She raised her bow and drew the string back, forming an arrow out of magic. The arrow glowed golden and became brighter as Layla poured more magic power into it. "Eat this, neuroi. RUINATION ARROW!" Layla fired her arrow, leaving behind a shockwave from the sheer force of its firing.

Layla's arrow breached the mass of neuroi, instantly destroying any of the lesser neuroi caught in its path. After a few seconds, the arrow exploded, taking out several more neuroi.

"Good job." Yoko said. "You cut their number by a quarter."

"Yeah, but I'll have to sit out for now to recharge." Layla said.

"Just keep yourself safe." Yusu said. "We'll handle the rest. Attack!"

Yusu, Kaylie, Yoko, and Mei charged in toward their targets, each with their guns ablaze.

"Let's go." Yoshika said.

"Wait." Kye said. "Let's see how they fare."

In less than a minute, Yusu, Kaylie, Yoko, and Mei weaved through the onslaught of neuroi beams and racked up a combined thirty kills, half of the original amount, but they had run out of ammo. With fifteen left, they had no choice but to resort to their swords.

"Flare!" Mei said. She formed a ball of fire in her hands and held it above her head. She placed the backside of her hands against each other and pulled the fire outwards, spreading it at high speed and incinerating another five neuroi.

"Don't hog them all!" Yoko said. "Freeze!" Yoko froze six more neuroi and shattered them with relative ease.

"Four to go." Yusu said. She glanced behind he and noticed that none of the 501st were participating. "What are all doing?"

"Don't get distracted now." Mio said. "You still have four enemies.

Layla flew into the fray. "I can fight again." She already had her bow placed on her back, and instead drew her sword.

"All that is left are four Class Six neuroi." Mei said. "You know what we have to do to defeat them, right?"

"Yes." Yusu said. She had closed her eyes and focused for a few moments. "Let's go!" She opened her eyes only to see that Kaylie, Layla, Yoko, and Mei were already in midattack.

"Reppuzan!" Each of the four girls said as they each sliced through an incoming beam from their respective targets and destroyed the remaining four neuroi.

"Hey!" Yusu said. "Way to leave me none!"

"You'll get your chance, witch." A voice called from a distance.

"What was that?" Kye asked.

"I am detecting another neuroi." Sanya said.

Mei activated her magic eye and gazed off into the distance. She had a sudden look of horror on her face. "Girls, we have a Class Eight neuroi inbound."

"CLASS EIGHT?" Kaylie said.

"We could barely kill the Class Seven neuroi we fought last month." Layla said. "And that was with all five of us fighting together! With auras!"

"With auras?" Kye said. "I thought you said the only witches capable of using auras were dead or missing."

"I'm sorry." Yusu said. "I meant other than ourselves. The five of us are capable of using energy projection auras, but we haven't progressed very far with them yet."

"I see." Kye said. "How powerful is a Class Seven compared to a Class Six and Class Eight?"

"Well." Mei said. "The Class Six neuroi we just killed were easy. One Reppuzan is all it took. But the Class Seven are significantly more powerful. They are typically super large type neuroi and are several times as powerful as Class Six. A Class Eight is even more powerful than a Class Seven. Class Eight neuroi mostly humanoid types. You could compare them to the Queen's guard from the war in 1945."

"I see." Kye said.

The Class Eight neuroi approached the group.

"Hello, witches." The neuroi said. "You have defeated my forces, and I commend you for that, but I'm afraid I must take matters into my own hand." The neuroi formed a red and black, hexagon littered, sword in its right hand. "You will die by my blade."

"In your dreams, neuroi." Yusu said. She activated her basic golden aura, unable to go any higher. The other four followed suit and prepared to attack.

The neuroi moved in toward the group fast, and vanished at the last moment.

"What?" Yusu said.

"Above!" Kaylie said. She, in turn, also vanished. She teleported above the neuroi and attempted a Reppuzan from above, but was completely blocked.

"You aren't half bad." The neuroi said. "I'm afraid half bad is not good enough to survive." The neuroi swung its sword around, and was surely to hit Kaylie, but was blocked by Kye.

"I don't think so." Kye said. "If you want a challenge, fight me instead." Kye pushed the neuroi away.

"I did not think a witch of your magnitude existed." The neuroi said. "Wait... I recognize you. You are that damned witch that destroyed the Orussia Hive, but how are you still alive and young? You humans have a short lifespan."

"Indeed we do." Kye said. "Time travel is the answer."

The neuroi looked around and saw the other members of the 501st. "That means the one that killed the queen is amongst you. I must warn the others!" The neuroi turned and fled.

"Oh, no you don't." Kye said as she gave chase with her white aura active. The other witches followed.

Kye caught the neuroi in less than twenty seconds.

"I will not be defeated by you!" The neuroi said.

"I'm afraid you have no choice." Kye said. "Reppuzan!" Kye destroyed the neuroi with a single blow.

"Amazing." Kaylie said.

"Such power." Yusu said.

"I can sense you all are capable of this as well." Kye said. "You'll learn that energy projection can give you quite an edge in battle once you master it. Come on, let's return to Yokosuka." She turned toward Yokosuka and took off with everyone in tow.

* * *

Several minutes later, everyone arrived at the base and was greeted by General Yamanashi and one other man.

"Hello, General Yamanashi." Yusu said. "The mission was a success, but we had an unexpected Class Eight neuroi combatant."

"How did that turn out?" Yamanashi asked.

"Kye destroyed it." Yusu said. "With ease I might add."

"Is that so?" Yamanashi said. He turned to Kye "Your legendary status precedes you."

"If you think that is impressive, I can't even hold a candle to Yoshika's power when she uses her True Golden Aura." Kye said.

"My colleague here has something he wants to talk to you about." Yamanashi said. "General Ventus."

"Thank you." Ventus said. "Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the year 2012. It is very fortunate for mankind that the Legendary Strike Witches are here. I don't know if you have been told yet, but we are at war with the neuroi once again, and this time they are overpowering us. There are very few witches in the world that can stand up to a Class Seven Neuroi, but yet you defeated a Class Eight with ease. I would like to extend an offer to officially reform the 501st Joint Fighter Wing and place you under active duty."

"There is no need for that." Kye said. "In 1945, I made a statement with Sir Churchill that the 501st cannot be disbanded, even after our deaths. While we may not have been in active duty since 1945, we were never disbanded in the first place, and as such all of our ranks are intact. As the Supreme Commander of the Joint Fighter Wing, only I have the authority to place the 501st Joint Fighter Wing in active duty, but I will only exercise that authority if each and every member agrees to it."

"I do." Mio said.

"I do as well." Minna said.

"Back in action!" Lucchini said.

"Yeah!" Shirley said.

Not a single witch was left out. Everyone agreed.

"Then by my status as the Supreme Commander, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing is once again in active duty and ready to combat the neuroi." Kye said. "Can you fill us in on the neuroi whereabouts. We need to know where the hives are located and what countries need our aid most urgently."

"Can do, General Miyafuji." Ventus said. "If you all can follow me to the briefing room I can fill you in. Colonel Miyafuji, I would like your team to come as well.

"Yes, sir." Yusu said.

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**General Ventus (4 Stars) - Member of the modern day Top Brass of the Allied Forces.**

* * *

**Character Profiles  
**

**Name: Yoshika "Yusu" Miyafuji  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Yoshika Miyafuji.  
Age: 20 (As of August 5, 2012)  
Date of Birth: ****February 20, 1992**  
Height: 155 CM  
Hair: Short, Brown, Straight, Similar to Yoshika's Hairstyle  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Colonel  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana  
Familiar: Red Fox  
Magic Abilities: Healing Magic, Enhanced Shields, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
Notes: She is named after her Great Grandmother Yoshika Miyafuji (The Prodigal Witch), and was given the nickname Yusu in honor of their Ancestor Yoshika Miyafuji also known as Yusu.  


**Name: Kaylie Miyafuji  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Rei Miyafuji, Twin Sister of Layla Miyafuji  
Age: 16 ****(As of August 5, 2012)**  
Date of Birth: **June 4th, 1995**  
Height: 158 CM  
Hair: Long, Brown, Straight  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Captain  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana, Enchanted Staff  
Familiar: Arctic Fox (White Fox)  
Magic Abilities: Spatial Distortion Magic, Temporal Distortion Magic, ******Energy Projection, Blade Spells**  
Notes: Her first name is Liberion, due to her father being from Liberion, but she has her mother's last name.  


******Name: Layla Miyafuji  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Rei Miyafuji, Twin Sister of Kaylie Miyafuji  
Age: 16 ****(As of August 5, 2012)**  
Date of Birth: **June 4th, 1995**  
Height: 158 CM  
Hair: Long, Brown, Straight  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Captain  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana, Enchanted Bow  
Familiar: Arctic Fox (White Fox)  
Magic Abilities: Creation Magic, Destruction Magic, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
Notes: Her first name is Liberion, due to her father being from Liberion, but she has her mother's last name.

**************Name: Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short)  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Mio Sakamoto, Twin Sister of Mei Akiyama  
Age: 17 ****(As of August 5, 2012)**  
Date of Birth: **October 8, 1994**  
Height: 160 CM  
Hair: Medium, Black, Straight  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Captain  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana  
Familiar: Doberman  
Magic Abilities: Ice and Water Magic, Area Analysis, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
Notes: Her last name is her father's last name. Each generation between Mio and Kiyoko are female.  


******************************Name: Mei Akiyama  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Mio Sakamoto, Twin Sister of Kiyoko Akiyama  
Age: 17 ****(As of August 5, 2012)**  
Date of Birth: **October 8, 1994**  
Height: 160 CM  
Hair: Medium, Black, Straight  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Captain  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana  
Familiar: Doberman  
Magic Abilities: Fire Magic, Magic Eye, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
Notes: Her last name is her father's last name. Each generation between Mio and Mei are female.

* * *

**Abilities Introduced  
**

**Layla's Ruination Arrow  
Kaylie's Teleport  
Yoko's Freeze  
Yoko's Area Analyasis (Not named, but used)  
Mei's Flare  
Mei's Magic Eye  
Reppuzan - Kaylie, Layla, Yoko, Mei (Yusu is implied to know the technique)  
Stage One Aura (Basic Golden) - Yusu, Layla, Kaylie, Yoko, Mei  
**

* * *

**Equipment Introduced  
**

**Layla's Bow  
**

* * *

**And that's Chapter 2! The witches will be introduced to Air Bands in the next chapter!**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**11/12/2012: Corrected incorrect word usage - Precedes instead of Proceeds in the following line: "Is that so?" Yamanashi said. He turned to Kye "Your legendary status precedes you." - Thank you for pointing that out, FLAZE35.  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

**If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	3. Chapter 3: A New Way to Fly

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 3: A New Way to Fly

April 10th, 2012

* * *

The news of the Strike Witches' return had spread like wildfire. Every news channel, be it by television, radio, or the internet, had the story.

"The top story of today is the return of the Strike Witches." A reporter said. The witches were having lunch.

"We're on everything." Eila said. "Can't they talk about something else?"

"It feels a bit odd being on the television." Kye said. "We didn't see hardly anything on it in 1952."

"I'm amazed at how far technology has come." Minna said. "You called this an HDTV?"

"Correct." Kaylie said.

"It's so big." Minna said.

"Nobody knows how it happened." The reporter continued. "The 501st Joint Fighter Wing, world renowned for liberating Gallian, Venezia, Fuso, Egypt, Orussia, and the Mother Hive in the Great Neuroi War sixty seven years ago, have returned and it is confirmed that they will be taking up arms to fight once again."

"How did they get this information?" Mio asked. "Our arrival should have been classified."

"You can thank General Ventus for that." Kye said. "He held a press conference yesterday about us. It's a publicity stunt, and the top brass agrees. They think that if the world knows we are back and are going to fight it will boost morale in the front lines across the world and may inspire more people to join the military to help in the war. Out of those people that may join the military, they are hoping more witches will sign up."

"I was looking over a few statistical documents this morning." Minna said. "It seems that out of the known witches in the world, only 0.2% are in the military. Most of the witches not in the military are just civilians and don't want to fight, but a few are freelance mercenaries."

"That's not very many witches." Yoshika said.

"It's more than you think." Mio said.

"I looked over several things to catch myself up." Minna said. "The world population in 1952 was a little over two and a half billion. The population today is almost seven billion. Of that number, there were only a few thousand known witches in 1952. Today, there are about twenty million known witches."

"That's a lot!" Lucchini said.

"In most countries, you can't join the military until you are between sixteen and eighteen years old." Minna said. "Many known witches are too young, and the rest of the civilian witches don't want to fight."

"I can't blame them." Yoshika said. "I didn't want any part of the war when Mio found me."

"'I'm not helping with your stupid war!' you said." Mio said. "I remember that."

"In hindsight, if you hadn't helped we probably would have lost the war." Kye said. "Next to you, I was the most powerful, and I couldn't even scratch the Neuroi Queen."

"There's another bit of information you might be interested in." Minna said. "There are male witches, or wizards to be more accurate. They were extremely rare in our time to the point that finding one was unheard of. There are enough of them now that there are even a handful in the military."

"I checked into that topic, too." Kye said. "Witches outnumber wizards at about fifty to one, but the percentage of wizards in military is significantly higher."

"That's right." Minna said. "Of the roughly four hundred thousand known wizards, two percent are in a military."

Yoshika was counting with her fingers to find out how many of each were in the military, but Perrine was much faster.

"Judging from the numbers given," Perrine said, "there are about forty thousand witches in the militaries around the world and about eight thousand wizards."

"From what I read in a recent study," Minna said, "the most powerful witches are born to witch and wizard couples."

"My parents, along with their parents," Yusu said, pointing at Kaylie, Layla, Yoko, and Mei, "were all witches and wizards."

"Where are your parents?" Yoshika asked. "I'd like to meet the generation between you and Ayame."

"Well..." Yusu said. The other four girls immediately had sorrowful expressions on their faces. Yusu turned around before she could muttered the next part. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Why not?" Yoshika asked innocently.

"Well... they..." Yusu said.

"They're dead." Kaylie said. "They died in battle a few months ago."

"I see." Yoshika said. Her face now overcome by sadness.

"They wouldn't let us go with them." Yoko said. "I know if we had gone they would have made it back."

"Or we could have died, too." Mei said. "They were up against Class Eight humanoid neuroi. There's no way we could have made a difference. The handful of us that are descended from them," She gestured at the the 501st witches, "are currently the most powerful witches in the world, and it takes a few of us to take down a Class Seven. We couldn't do anything against that Class Eight a few days ago."

"Are you more powerful than your parents?" Trude asked.

"A lot more." Mei said. "Yet they still refused our help in that mission."

"They probably didn't want you to get hurt." Kye said. "I had a hard time deciding to let this squirt," She pointed at Rei, "join the 501st when she showed up in Egypt."

"It worked out!" Rei said.

"You're lucky you didn't get your butt whooped for pulling that stunt." Kye said.

"What about my daughter?" Perrine asked. "And everyone else's daughters? Do we have any grandchildren or great grandchildren?"

Yoko and Mei shuffled in their seats after hearing Perrine's questions.

"Actually, you do." Kaylie said. She pointed at Yoko and Mei. "Miss Perrine, meet your great granddaughters."

"Them?" Perrine said with a clear look of shock on her face. "B-but their Mio's great granddaughters."

"We're both." Yoko said. "In detail, Grandma Nori had a son, my father, and Grandma Louise had a daughter, my mother. They are the same Nori and Louise that are are your daughter," she pointed at Mio then Perrine, "and your daughter."

"If you want to go a little deeper," Mei said. "Grandma Louise married Grandpa Katou, the son of Takeko Katou."

"I think that is where my Area Analysis ability came from." Yoko said. "And we both inherited elemental magic from you, although we got different elements somehow. Mom and Grandma Louise both got lightning, so I don't know how we got fire and water."

"I got my Magic Eye from the Sakamoto side." Mei said.

"How are your last names Akiyama then?" Mio asked.

"Grandma Nori took her husband's last name." Yoko said. "It was Akiyama, and it passed down to dad then us."

"Well isn't that something, Perrine?" Mio said. "We share great grandchildren."  
Perrine was still somewhat shocked at that revelation. "Yes... how about that."

"Look at that." Eila said. "I think she's on cloud nine."

"That's not nice, Eila." Sanya scolded.

"Uh..." Perrine said. "Is Louise still..."

"Alive?" Yoko said. "Yes. She lives in Tokyo, actually."

"That's not far from here." Mio said.

"We can fly up there on a day off after you learn to use Air Bands." Yoko said.

"Can we not go up there now?" Perrine asked.

"We're on duty today." Minna said.

"That and we aren't allowed to fly in big cities with strikers." Yusu said. "Even on days off we are required to be battle ready at all times, and right now that would require you all to use a striker, so we have to train you on Air Bands first."

"I've been meaning to ask about those." Kye said. "What are they exactly?"

"They are similar to a striker in functionality." Yusu said. "They allow us to fly using magic and are controlled solely by magic. They have several advantages over strikers. For one, they make no sound, so it is very easy to stay hidden in recon missions. They are wearable all the time, even when not in use. When not in use they do not drain any magic at all."

"You can move a lot more freely." Kaylie pointed out.

"There is one downside, though." Yusu said. "While they don't actually drain a lot of magic, they do require more experienced witches to actually use. A witch is required to show a certain amount of skill with a striker before she is allowed to even try an Air Band."

"Which you all count no problem." Layla said. "We have plenty of Air Bands here on base, so if you want you can try them out whenever you want."

"I want to try them out now!" Lucchini said.

"We have them stored in the hangar." Yusu said. "We can go try them out after lunch if you'd like."

"That's a good idea." Mio said. "We were planning on doing drills this afternoon, but that would be better."

"I agree." Minna said. "If these Air Bands will give us an edge, there's no reason for us not to try them."

"We have just received information on the status of the neuroi in the United States of Liberion." The reporter said. "New York City has been destroyed and the entire east coast has been surrendered."

"Liberion?" Shirley said.

"Liberion has been getting hit the hardest this time around." Yusu said. "The rest of us are over there right now. The only reason my team isn't over there is because we have a powerful neuroi base not too far outside of Fuso as well."

"Things are so different." Kye said. "It's almost unreal. In addition to having hives, the neuroi can also have colossal sized neuroi that can act as a base, which you consider Class Nine?"

"Yes." Yusu said.

"That could be troublesome." Kye said. "How bad is it in Liberion?" Shirley asked.

"It's pretty rough." Yusu said. "Most of our main forces are over there, and they are just able to hold the neuroi off. Even the best fighter squadrons in the world can't do too much against these neuroi. They move so fast."

"Have you considered nuclear assault?" Kye asked. "I assume nuclear weapons have been enhanced quite a bit over the last sixty years."

"They have, and we tried it." Yusu said. "The neuroi shot it down long before the missile got into blasting range. The hives have an extremely long range beam that is fairly weak, but strong enough to destroy a missile."

"I see." She stood up after finishing her plate. "I'm going ahead to the hangar. I'll see you all when you get there." She left the room.

* * *

Within fifteen minutes, everyone had finished eating and was in the hangar ready to start Air Band training. Yusu lead everyone to a large case standing against the wall in the back of the hangar.

"Here they are." Yusu said as she opened the case, revealing several sets of Air Bands.

"Me first, me first!" Lucchini said excitedly.

"Okay then." Yusu said. She removed one set of Air Bands from the case and handed it to Lucchini one piece at a time. "There is an M and an O on each bracelet and anklet. The M stands for Main and the O stands for O. Put the M on whichever arm and leg is your dominate side."

"Uhh, what?" Lucchini said, slightly confused.

"If you are right handed, put the M on your right." Yusu said. "And if you're left handed, put it on the left."

"Got it." Lucchini said. She attempted to put the bands on, but could not manage to fasten it.

"They clamp on like this." Yusu said, assisting Lucchini.

"Oh, I see!" Lucchini said. After she put on all five pieces, she started trying to fly. "It's not working!"

"You have to use your magic." Yusu said. "It is completely controlled by magic."

"I am trying, but it's not working!" Lucchini said.

"Hmm, one second." Yusu said. "Let me see your arm." She examined the primary band on Lucchini's arm and realized what was wrong. "Oh, its manual override switch is turned on. Like that it actually can't receive any magic from the user. Press that button there and you will be able to turn it on with magic."

"What's the point of a power switch if you can turn it on and off with magic?" Shirley asked.

"It's just an override." Yusu said. "It's there so you can manually disable the device in the case it malfunctions. I forgot that all of the stored Air Bands have override turned on. You should be able to fly now."

After she turned off the override, Lucchini was able to float around inside the hangar. "Hey it works!" She flew out of the hangar and started playing around in the sky above the base.

"Well that was fast." Kaylie said.

The remaining witches crowded around Yusu and the Air Band case, each eager to get their own, all except Rei, Kye, Mio, and Yoshika.

"Hey." Kye whispered. "Rei, Mio, Yoshika, come over here for a moment."

"Hmm?" Yoshika said.

"What is it?" Mio asked.

"It's about the other day when the goddess visited." Kye said. "Have you told anyone?"

"I haven't." Mio said.

"Nope." Rei said.

Yoshika shook her head.

"Good." Kye said. "I don't want any of you to tell anyone about the goddess's visit. I've already made sure that Yusu and her team are staying quiet about it, too. "

"Why not?" Rei asked.

"I think there's more to the story that what she told us." Kye said. "She's good at keeping secrets, but if she wants us to know something, she'll give subtle hints, which I picked up on when she was here. You remember that she said Xera is the one that brought us here, right?"

The other three nodded.

"Xera is the one that calls the shots." Kye said. "More specifically, she is the Queen of the Gods. Xera is the one that doesn't want any gods interacting with humans, so why does she go and transport us through time? Is the reason merely so that we can help the world defeat the neuroi again? No, I think there's more to this war than meets the eye."

"I was wondering about that, too." Mio said.

"You also remember that she mentioned the Zen Reppuzan, correct?" Kye asked.

"I remember that, but what is it?" Yoshika asked.

"Zen Magic is the absolute strongest type of magic out there." Kye said. "You know that Rei's primary magic ability is light magic. The same is true for me, although I rarely ever use it. Light magic is... hold on, they are calling us over there. I think it's our turn. Let's continue this conversation later. Until we have this figured out, let's keep it to ourselves."

While Kye was talking, the rest of the witches had equipped Air Bands and started flying around. Kye and the others were each given an Air Band and were off into the sky in no time.

"I can use my legs like this!" Trude said.

"Trudy!" Erica said. "With your strength you could kick a neuroi apart."

"I can't wait to try!" Trude said.

* * *

"It sure didn't take them long to adjust to the Air Bands." Kaylie said.

"Let's see how well they've adjusted." Yusu said as she drew her sword. She flew up to Yoshika and challenged her to a sparring match.

"Sure." Yoshika said. She drew Tenshimaru and held it in the ready stance. "I'm ready whenever you are."

"You have learned to fly with the Air Bands rather quickly." Yusu said. "Let's see how well you can adapt them into combat." She flew at Yoshika with her sword in mid swing.

Yoshika blocked her sword and retaliated with her own attack. Yusu managed to dodge Yoshika's attack and fell back a few feet.

"Impressive." Yusu said. "I'm coming again.

After trading a few more blows, the two backed off.

"You're pretty good, Yusu." Yoshika said. "That was a lot of fun! I think I've gotten used to fighting with these things on, too."

"That's good." Yusu said. "I'm going back to the ground now. There's something I need to tend to. Come find me when all of you are done." She turned and

flew back toward the ground and headed to the command room.

"Yoshika, my turn." Rei said. She flew over to Yoshika with her sword drawn.

"Okay." Yoshika said.

"Mio?" Kye proposed as she placed her hand on her sword.

"You read my mind." Mio said, doing the same.

* * *

**501st Joint Fighter Wing Short Profiles (Ages as of April 10th, 2012)  
**

**(Note: Actual ages do not count the sixty years against them)  
(Note 2: The types of guns they use are not listed. The witches are currently testing out various modern weapons and have yet to narrow their choices.)  
**

**Yoshika Miyafuji  
**Birthdate: August 18, 1929  
Chronological Age: 82  
Actual Age: 22  
Weapons: Jouten, Tenshimaru  
Magic: Healing, Enhanced Shields, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
**  
Kye Miyafuji  
**Birthdate: December 10, 1917  
Chronological Age:: 94  
Actual Age: 34  
Weapon(s): Akarimaru, Twin of Akarimaru  
Magic: Enhanced Shields, Energy Projection, Blade Spells

**Rei Miyafuji  
**Birthdate: September 1, 1935  
Chronological Age: 76  
Actual Age: 16  
Weapon(s): Tenraimaru, Twin of Tenraimaru  
Magic: Light Magic: Light Wave, Light Magic: Light Nova (Ultimate), Energy Projection, Blade Spells

**Mio Sakamoto**

Birthdate: August 26, 1924  
Chronological Age: 87  
Actual Age: 27  
Weapon(s): Reppumaru, Twin of Reppumaru  
Magic: Magic Eye, Obliteration (Ultimate), Energy Projection, Blade Spells

**Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke**

Birthdate: March 11, 1926  
Chronological Age: 86  
Actual Age: 26  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Glaive  
Magic: Area Analysis, Area Destruction (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells

**Getrude Barkhorn**

Birthdate: March 20, 1926  
Chronological Age: 86  
Actual Age: 26  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Gauntlets  
Magic: Super Strength, Ultimate Strength (Ultimate), Basic Unarmed Combat Spells

**Erica Hartmann**

Birthdate: April 19, 1927  
Chronological Age: 84  
Actual Age: 24  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Glaive  
Magic: Wind Magic: Sturm, Wind Magic: Great Sturm (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells

**Chartlotte E. Yeager "Shirley"**

Birthdate: February 13, 1927  
Chronological Age: 85  
Actual Age: 25  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Rifle  
Magic: Speed Boost, Speed Control (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells

**Francesca Lucchini**

Birthdate: December 24, 1931  
Chronological Age: 80  
Actual Age: 20  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Fingerless Gloves  
Magic: Sunlight Strike, Explosion Strike (Ultimate), Basic Unarmed Combat Spells

**Eila Illmatar Juutilainen**

Birthdate: February 21, 1928  
Chronological Age: 84  
Actual Age: 24  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Staff  
Magic: Foresight, Influence (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells

**Sanya V. Litvyak**

Birthdate: August 18, 1930  
Chronological Age: 81  
Actual Age: 21  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Mace  
Magic: Magic Antenna, Advanced Radar (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells

**Perrine H. Clostermann**

Birthdate: February 28, 1928  
Chronological Age: 84  
Actual Age: 24  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Rapier  
Magic: Lightning Magic: Tonnerre, Lightning Magic: Multi Tonnerre (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells

**Lynnette Bishop**

Birthdate: June 11, 1928  
Chronological Age: 83  
Actual Age: 23  
Weapon(s): Enchanted Bow  
Magic: Ballistic Stabilization, Ballistic Missile (Ultimate), Basic Weapon Spells**  
**

* * *

**Updated Character Profiles  
**

**************Name: Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short)  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Mio Sakamoto and Perrine H. Clostermann, Twin Sister of Mei Akiyama  
Age: 17 ****(As of August 5, 2012)**  
Date of Birth: **October 8, 1994**  
Height: 160 CM  
Hair: Medium, Black, Straight  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Captain  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana  
Familiar: Doberman  
Magic Abilities: Ice and Water Magic, Area Analysis, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
Notes: Her last name is her father's last name. Each generation between Mio and Kiyoko are female.  


******************************Name: Mei Akiyama  
Relation: Great Granddaughter of Mio Sakamoto and Perrine H. Clostermann, Twin Sister of Kiyoko Akiyama  
Age: 17 ****(As of August 5, 2012)**  
Date of Birth: **October 8, 1994**  
Height: 160 CM  
Hair: Medium, Black, Straight  
Eye Color: Brown  
Affiliation: Imperial Fuso Navy  
Rank: Captain  
Weapon: Enchanted Katana  
Familiar: Doberman  
Magic Abilities: Fire Magic, Magic Eye, Energy Projection, Blade Spells  
Notes: Her last name is her father's last name. Each generation between Mio and Mei are female.

* * *

**And that's Chapter 3! The witches' return is known to the modern world, and the witches have begun using Air Bands. Kye talks to Mio, Rei, and Yoshika briefly about Zen Magic and starts to comment on Light Magic. What could she have in store? Time will tell. If you remember what I did with Light and Dark magic from _The Neuroi Rebellion _then I want to just point out that that was one of the major things that was reworked. The whole idea of Light and Dark magic is still coming, but I've made it much more fluid. You'll see what I mean when they are mentioned in a later chapter. Also, the whole idea about using Light Magic to enhance the White Aura, Dark Magic to enhance the Black Aura, and Zen Magic to enhance the True Golden Aura has been reworked as well. This will tie into the Light and Dark magic reworks. As for what the reworks are, you'll find out later! (I promise the ridiculous power increases from this stuff won't be a thing this time around.)**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

**If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	4. Chapter 4: A Witch Can Adapt

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 4: A Witch Can Adapt

April 14th, 2012

* * *

The day was Saturday. The witches were spending their day off exploring Tokyo. Trude and Shirley stayed behind at the base in Yokosuka, but everyone else wanted to see the modern world.

Several of the witches split up into groups and went about their own way. Yoshika, Kye, Rei, Lynne, Lucchini, and Yusu split off and went their own way while

Mio, Perrine, Yoko, and Mei headed to see Louise. Kaylie and Layla served as guides to Minna, Erica, Sanya, and Eila.

* * *

Yoshika and her group went to a mall to look around. While everyone was distracted by shiny things on the shelves, Yusu pulled Yoshika away from the others.

"'ey, 'at's up?" Yoshika barely managed to say while eating a pretzel she bought from stand a few minutes ago.

"I wanted to ask you something." Yusu said, visibly nervous.

"Sure, go ahead." Yoshika said after she finished scarfing down her snack.

"What do you want me to call you?" Yusu asked.

Yoshika was perplexed by the question. She figured Yusu was referring to their blood relationship, but asked anyway. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you are my great grandmother, but you are barely older than I am." Yusu said. "So I'm at a crossroads on what to call you."

"Well, I am only twenty two, so calling me grandma or something would make me feel old." Yoshika said. "Just call me Yoshika! Are any of the others in your team wondering that toward Kye, Rei, Mio, or Perrine?"

"Kaylie and Layla are pretty relaxed about it." Yusu said. "It's hard to get them to worry about anything. I imagine they'll call Miss Kye or Miss Rei whatever they want and get away with it. Kiyori and Mei are a little more timid and will probably ask Mio and Perrine the same thing."

Yoshika knew exactly what to say in regards to Mio. "When I first joined the Strike Witches, Mio told me to stop calling her 'Major Sakamoto', so I just called her Sakamoto. Over time, as we became better friends, and partially because Kye and Rei made it hard for anyone to call any of us Miyafuji, we went to a first name basis. Pretty much all of us go by first names now. I would tell them to just call Mio and Perrine by their names."

"Thanks, I will." Yusu said. "There's one more thing. Grandma Ayame told me about the stories from the war. What was Yusu like? The one I got my nickname from."

"She was a sweet girl." Yoshika said. "She was rather mysterious at first, but she cared greatly for everyone. I miss her. Did you know she had two sisters?"

"No, I didn't." Yusu said.

"She had two older sisters." Yoshika said. "The oldest one was named Kamiko, and the middle one was named Ayame. Rei and I named our daughters after them. From what our ancestor told us, the ancient Kamiko and Ayame were kind, but appropriately strict, especially Ayame. Yusu told us that Ayame pulled a stunt in which she pretended to sacrifice herself to save Yusu and Kamiko. This caused a great deal of emotional stress for Yusu, and gave her the push she needed to unlock the True Golden Aura. Kye did the same thing for me, although Kye went a lot further."

"I heard she used a technique called the Pillar of Light." Yusu said.

"That's right." Yoshika said. "It can only be done with Jouten, and requires the life of the user to complete. I stopped her from finishing the spell, so we don't know what it's capable of."

"I see." Yusu said. A sudden ring sounded from Yusu's pocket. She pulled out her cell phone and punched several buttons to reply to a message before sticking it back in her pocket. This brought about curiosity in Yoshika.

"What's that? Yoshika said, eyeing the device like candy.

"Oh, this?" Yusu said as she pulled her cell phone out again. "This is my cell phone."

"A phone?" Yoshika said. "Can you call people with it?"

"Yes." Yusu said. "You can take it anywhere you go, too."

"The phones we had always were plugged into a wall." Yoshika said. "We couldn't take them anywhere."

"You can do more than just call people with a cell phone." Yusu explained. "You can text and get on the internet, too!"

"Text? Internet?" Yoshika said, confused. "What's that?"

"Oh, a text message is like a letter." Yusu said. "Instead of writing it on a piece of paper and sending it, you can write it in a phone and send it directly to the other person. It's like a phone call, but writing instead of talking. And the internet... well that's a doozy to explain."

"Later then." Yoshika said. "I want to look around a bit."

"Me, too." Yusu said as she and Yoshika rejoined the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kaylie and Layla were walking around with Minna, Erica, Sanya, and Eila. They happened to stroll by a candy shop, which immediately perked Erica's attention.

"Candy!" Erica said as she peered into the window. "Can we stop? Can we, can we, can we?"

"I suppose." Minna said, unable to refuse Erica's sweet tooth.

Erica ran inside followed shortly by the rest of her group.

"Eila, we should get some candy, too." Sanya said.

"Sure, Sanya." Eila said. She and Sanya picked a few candies from the shelf and took them to the checkout.

"Wait, what are we going to do about paying for this?" Minna said. "Our bank accounts aren't set up yet."

"Bank account?" Erica said.

"Yes, you have to have them now." Minna said. "Our pay gets deposited directly into the bank."

"I thought you still gave out our money." Erica said.

"Don't worry." Kaylie said. "We can cover it."

"Thank you, Kaylie." Minna said. "I'll be sure to reimburse you as soon as our finances are straightened out."

"Oh, no worries." Kaylie said. "This is my treat."

"Thanks!" Erica said as she happily carried her sweets out of the store.

Mio, Perrine, Yoko, and Mei just arrived at Louise's place.

"She lives here?" Perrine said with a clear expression of disappointment on her face.

"What's wrong, Perrine?" Mio asked.

"Well, I thought she would live in my estate back in Gallia." Perrine said.

"There's a reason for that." Yoko said. "But I'll let Grandma Louise tell you." She opened the door and hollered inside. "Grandma! It's Yoko. I've brought some guests to see you."

"I'll be right there." Louise was heard calling from the back room.

"Louise..." Perrine said under her breath. She tried to mentally prepare to see her daughter at an old age.

The person that entered the room, however, did not look old at all.

"Louise." Perrine said. "You're not old!"

"Hello, mother." Louise said. "I am too old! I'm sixty five."

"You look... maybe thirty five." Perrine said.

"I've made sure to keep in shape." Louise said. "I had a feeling that you would be back someday. I jumped for joy when I saw the Strike Witches on the news the other day."

Perrine and Louise hugged each other.

"I'm so happy you are okay." Perrine said. "I'm sorry for being absent from your life for sixty years."

"I've always believed that things happen for a reason." Louise said as she and her mother released each other. "And it seems that stands true even now. The war today is very harsh. I couldn't imagine a better way to turn the tide that to have the lot of you back."

Perrine was very proud to hear what her daughter had just said. "I wish I could have seen you grow up. I'm curious, though. How did you end up in Fuso?"

"After you disappeared, I didn't know what to think." Louise said. "I was a five year old girl who had lost her mother. The others were all the same. Poor Kamiko never even knew Miss Rei. You were the only family I had."

"What about your father?" Perrine asked.

"After you disappeared, I never saw him again." Louise said. "He was probably too grief stricken to accept the world without you. Dr. Miyafuji made sure all of the Strike Witch kids had a place to go. He offered to take care of those of us that had no one to go to. I had the estate in Gallia, but I didn't have you or father. Dr. Miyafuji offered to take me in. He had me, Nori, Kamiko, and Ayame. Miss Barkhorn's little sister, Chris, took in Alina, Bell, and Linda. Diana, Aina, Anna, Lucy, and Ally all had immediate family to go to."

"I see." Louise said.

"The doctor took in so many of our children." Mio said. "I'll have to make sure to thank him for that."

"Is it safe to assume that you are staying in Yokosuka?" Louise asked.

"Yes." Perrine said. "We are back on active duty officially as the 501st Joint Fighter Wing."

"That's wonderful news." Louise said. "I'm sure, with your help, this war will be over in no time."

"I hope so." Mio said. "We should go catch up with the others."

"Goodbye, Grandma." Mei said as she and Yoko hugged Louise.

"Goodbye, girls." Louise said. "You listen to your great grandmothers now. They are the best of the best."

"We know, Grandma." Yoko said.

"Goodbye, Louise." Perrine said as she gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"You haven't done that in sixty years." Louise said. "That makes me feel like a little kid again. I'll make sure to come visit you in Yokosuka. See you around, mother."

Perrine, Mio, Yoko, and Mei left and headed back to rejoin the other witches.

* * *

Everyone finally met back up and decided to go eat together, but was interrupted by a call from the base.

"Colonel Yusu, do you read?" Yamanashi called over the radio to their intercoms.

"Yes, General." Yusu said.

"We have an emergency." Yamanashi said. "We have detected Neuroi on two fronts. There is a large force headed for Yokosuka from the south and an even larger force headed for Tokyo from the east."

"For Tokyo?" Yusu said. "They can't be serious! The city's defense system would destroy them before they got here."

"This force is comprised of two Class Nine neuroi and Many Class Six through Eight." Yamanashi said. "They must intend to destroy the city."

"Even the defense systems are no use against a force with that many strong neuroi." Yusu said.

"General Yamanashi, this is General Miyafuji, do you read me?" Kye asked. She was in leader mode now.

"Yes, General Miyafuji, what is it?" Yamanashi asked.

"Do you have an estimate on how many neuroi are in each front?" Kye asked.

"Around one hundred are headed for Yokosuka. They are all Class Five to Eight." Yamanashi reported. "There are around three hundred headed for Tokyo. We suspect at least fifty Class Eight neuroi to be in that battle front."

"That's insane!" Kaylie said. "How are we supposed to fight off that many?"

"Simple." Kye said. "No mercy. We're going to split into two teams. Minna, Erica, Lucchini, and I will return to Yokosuka and along with Shirley and Trude, who are still there, will be the defensive team on that front. Yoshika, you lead the team on this front, it will be comprised of you and everyone else. Is anyone not confident enough to participate in this battle with the Air Bands?"

After nobody responded, Kye spoke up again. "Good. Move out."

The witches took to the sky. Kye's team immediately headed for Yokosuka, while the Tokyo defense team headed for the military truck, which carried their guns, located a few blocks to the south. After retrieving their weapons, they immediately to the east to intercept their targets.

* * *

**And that is Chapter 4! I'm trying to bridge the sixty year gap by introducing the witches to the various modern day gadgets and changes, such as cell phones, the internet, ect. If there's anything you readers think they should experience as far as adapting from 1952 to 2012, feel free to let me know! I'll try to work it in!  
**

**Also, sorry this update took a bit longer than the last. I've started a few different projects and new things have caught my attention outside of writing. I don't forsee updates taking too incredibly long, but I intend to shoot for at least once a week.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**  



	5. Chapter 5: Battle for Tokyo

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 5: Battle for Tokyo

April 14th, 2012

* * *

After receiving an emergency call from General Yamanshi, the witches split into two teams to combat the two separate neuroi offensives. One was headed for Tokyo, and one was headed for Yokosuka.

The Yokosuka team led by Kye included Minna, Erica, Trude, Lucchini, and Shirley. Trude and Shirley joined the team once they arrived in Yokosuka.

"It seems the neuroi haven't arrived yet." Minna said.

"Don't tell me they chickened out." Erica said.

"Well, we have an advantage." Trude said. "The skies are clear, so they won't be coming anywhere near here without being seen."

"That's true." Minna said. "They should have been here by now, though."

Kye floated silently in the air with her eyes closed and placed a hand on Minna's shoulder to temporarily copy her ability. Using her basic aura to enhance the range of Area Analysis, Kye was able to find the neuroi. To her surprise, there was only one.

"General Miyafuji, I have an update." Yamanashi said. "The offensive that was inbound to Yokosuka has changed course and merged with the Tokyo offensive. Instead, a single neuroi has been detected heading this way. Its power is too high for us to give you a reading on what class it is, but I suspect Class Nine. You may want to call for help from the other group."

"If what you say is true, then there will be at least four hundred neuroi heading their way." Kye said. "They'll need all the help they can get. I just checked out this neuroi. It's a humanoid type and is almost on equal standing with the Neuroi Queen."

"It has to be a Class Nine." Yamanashi said. "You will need help with that one."

"We can't afford it." Kye said. "This is going to sound like a bad idea, but I need you all to trust me. Minna, everyone, go back to Tokyo and help the others. I will handle this neuroi on my own."

This shocked the other witches.

"You can't be serious." Trude said. "Don't you remember when you tried to attack the queen?"

"I remember very clearly." Kye said. "I wasn't able to put a scratch on her. This neuroi isn't quite as strong, and I've gotten more powerful since then as well. You'll have to trust me on this. Now go!"

"I won't leave you to fight alone!" Lucchini argued.

"Yeah!" Shirley said.

Kye activated her white aura. She turned to the witches who were insisting that they stay and help. After seeing the look in Kye's eyes, the witches immediately knew why she wanted them to leave. "Do you understand now?"

"Give it hell." Trude said. She and the other witches turned to head toward Tokyo.

Kye drew one of the swords she was carrying. 'Well, Jouten... it's a good thing Yoshika let me borrow you for the time being.'

'It has been too long, Master Kye.' Jouten said telepathically. 'I look forward to battling by your side once again.'

'This is going to be rough.' Kye replied. 'There is no room to hold back anything, and no room for error.'

'You will only use the Light Aura if you absolutely have to, correct?' Jouten asked.

'Yes.' Kye said. 'I would rather us not have to cross that bridge, but I don't see us going around it. I'll postpone using it as long as possible, but I'll have to use it to destroy this one.'

'Understood, Master Kye.' Jouten said.

Kye gripped Jouten's hilt and flew off toward her target.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Tokyo offensive had just arrived and met the resistance of the several witches that had stayed behind.

"Everyone listen up." Yusu said, taking command. "I want to see nobody going alone. Minimum teams of two. Watch each other s backs. If you come face to face with a Class Eight neuroi, team up on it and take it out quickly."

"Only Mio, Rei, and I should be able to go solo." Yoshika said.

"Agreed." Yusu said.

"Colonel Yusu, do you read?" Yamanashi asked over the radio.

"Yes, General." Yusu said.

"You are getting reinforcements." Yamanashi asked. "All but General Miyafuji from the Yokosuka defense are heading your way."

"Kye is going to fight that battle alone?" Yoshika asked.

"The Yokosuka offensive changed course and is coming to join up with the Tokyo offensive." Yamanashi said. "There is a lone neuroi heading for Yokosuka, and

General Miyafuji is intercepting it. We believe it is a Class Nine humanoid neuroi."

"She'll be fine." Yoshika said. "She has Jouten."

"Lieutenant Yoshika Miyafuji, how fast can you get to Yokosuka if General Miyafuji can't handle it alone?" Yamanashi asked.

"With the power of my True Golden Aura, I can get there in less than a minute flying at over Mach 2."

"I'll radio you if she runs into trouble." Yamanashi said.

"Roger." Yoshika said.

"Let's engage them before they get over the city." Yusu said. "We need to keep the damage to the city at a minimum."

Layla opened up with her Ruination Arrow, destroying several neuroi with the single shot. The other witches moved in to attack, whereas Kaylie stayed behind to protect her now vulnerable sister.

Yoshika flew straight into the mass of neuroi with her blue aura active, slicing through weaker neuroi in her path. Mio and Rei followed suit.

Lynne stayed back somewhat close to Kaylie and Layla to pick off any neuroi that came their way.

"How are you liking your new gun?" Kaylie asked her.

"The AMMP Rifle is very nice." Lynne said. "I especially like the several different types of rounds I can fire with it, like this fragmentation round." She loaded one of the fragmentation rounds just in time to take a shot at a handful of neuroi that had closed in on them. Shortly after firing, the round split into several fragments and destroyed all seven of the incoming neuroi.

"Nice." Kaylie said.

Minna and the others arrived just after Lynne's attack. Lucchini sprang forth into the mass of neuroi with the help of Shirley launching her, weaving through beams and leaving behind charges of her Explosion Strike ultimate. She detonated the charges, destroying a solid fifteen Class Six neuroi.

Perrine and Erica mixed together their air and lightning magic to produce a powerful attack, which was able to take down two Class Eight neuroi.

"Good work, you two." Minna said as she focused her ultimate ability, Area Destruction, to simultaneously destroy a combination of twenty small to medium sized neuroi.

Shirley used her Speed Control ultimate to halt the movements of several more neuroi, and using that advantage, she added several more kills to the growing number.

"Miss Shirley, I have an idea." Mei said. "Can you help?"

"Sure." Shirley said. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm going to charge straight in with a cloak of fire around me." Mei said. "Can you launch me like you do with Miss Lucchini? I got this idea from watching you and her just now."

"On it." Shirley said. Shirley grabbed Mei and spun her around, letting go shortly after and propelling her forward. Mei formed a blanket of fire around her and tore through several neuroi. The neuroi that were caught on fire bumped into other neuroi thus spreading the fire.

"Wow, that was more effective that I thought." Mei said.

Eila had run out of ammo and resorted to using her staff. Using her foresight ability, she was able to find the most vulnerable spot on her targets and hit them with the tip of her staff. Using magic enhanced the attack, similar to using an enchanted Katana to fire a Reppuzan, and allowed her to destroy all of her targets with one blow.

Sanya had also decided to use her weapon, but to preserve ammo in her rocket launcher instead. She hit her targets and swatted neuroi beams away with her large mace, something unexpected of a small, quiet girl.

After exhausting her ammo supply, and subsequently destroying over thirty neuroi, Trude discarded her guns in favor of using her hand-to-hand techniques. She came face to face with two Class Eight neuroi. They attempted to blast her with their beams, but were unable to penetrate her shields. As soon as she found an opening, she hit the two neuroi in succession with the full might of her Ultimate Strength ability, shattering each of them. A third Class Eight neuroi snuck up behind her and nearly caught her off guard. Trude was able to erect a shield in time to block the neuroi's attack, but was denied the chance to destroy it by Rei, who had sliced it in half with a powerful Reppuzan.

"Thanks." Trude said.

Rei turned to take out several Class Seven neuroi that had followed her around. Her aura deactivated shortly after. "I'm falling back for a moment."

After Layla recovered enough to protect herself, Kaylie joined the battle. She used her space magic to teleport through the battlefield, leaving a sliced up neuroi after each teleport.

Mio encountered a few Class Eight neuroi, none of which lasted long against her white aura empowered Reppuzan attacks.

"If anyone needs to rest, just fall back to Layla and Lynne's position." Yusu called out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kye had engaged the single Class Nine neuroi. The neuroi formed a sword in its right hand and mimicked Kye. The two exchanged blow after blow, neither gaining ground on the other.

As the battle dragged on, Kye started gaining the advantage as her attacks became more and more ruthless. She launched a Reppuzan, but to her great surprise, the neuroi launched a similar, red colored attack. The two attacks hit and canceled each other out.

"What?" Kye said.

"Did you think you witches were the only ones capable of firing energy discharges from a weapon?" The neuroi said. "We studied your Reppuzan technique and derived our own version of it."

"Is the Reppuzan the only technique you copied?" Kye asked as she fired a fast moving Sonic Slash at the neuroi.

The attack moved too fast to counter with another discharge attack, but the neuroi did something else that surprised Kye even more. It raised a shield to block the attack.

"Did I forget to mention that the Reppuzan wasn't the only technique we studied?" The neuroi laughed. "Oh, and don't bother trying to block my attack with your shield. It won't work."

The neuroi moved in to attack Kye, but was caught off guard by neuroi beam shot from the distance.

"Another neuroi?" Kye said. She looked in the direction where the beam was fired to find the source, and found another powerful humanoid neuroi. "Wait, I recognize that one."

"Xelia, what are you doing!" The second neuroi said as she approached the two.

"Xala!" Kye and Xelia said simultaneously.

* * *

**List of Ranks current as of this chapter.  
**

Yoshika Miyafuji - First Lieutenant  
Kye Miyafuji - Lieutenant General / Supreme Commander of all JFW  
Rei Miyafuji - Second Lieutenant  
Mio Sakamoto - Brigadier General / Battle Commander of the 501st  
Minna Dietlinde-Wilcke - Brigadier General / Commander of the 501st  
Gertrude Barkhorn - Major  
Erica Hartmann - First Lieutenant  
Chartlotte E. Yeager "Shirley" - Captain  
Francesca Lucchini - First Lieutenant  
Eila Illmatar Juutilainen - First Lieutenant  
Sanya V. Litvyak - First Lieutenant  
Perrine H. Clostermann - Captain  
Lynette Bishop - First Lieutenant  
Yusu Miyafuji - Colonel  
Kaylie Miyafuji - Captain  
Layla Miyafuji - Captain  
Kiyoko Akiyama - Captain  
Mei Akiyama - Captain  
Ayame Miyafuji - Lieutenant General (Retired)  
Kamiko Miyafuji - Major General (Retired)  
Nori Akiyama (Sakamoto) - Major General (Retired)  
Louise H. Clostermann - Brigadier General (Retired)

* * *

**New Equipment**

**Lynne's AMMP Rifle** - Anti Material Multi Purpose Rifle. Capable of firing a variety of rounds ranging from Armor Piercing to Fragmentation to Explosive and more. Lynne carries magazines filled with each type in a pouch. This Rifle has replaced her old Boy's Anti Tank Rifle.

* * *

**And that's Chapter 5 for you! I think I'm going to stick to this once a week plan for a while. This let's me put more thought into the chapters before I write them.  
**

**Xala and Xelia have finally made their appearance. Both appeared in both Worldwide Liberation and The Neuroi Rebellion, although in Worldwide Liberation, Xelia wasn't actually named, but she was the one that talked more aggressively to the witches right after the battle of the Orussia Hive then flew off, leaving Xala to talk to the witches.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	6. Chapter 6: Old Allies

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 6: Old Allies

April 14th, 2012

* * *

"Xala!" Kye and Xelia said simultaneously.

"Hello, Miss Kye." Xala said. "It is good to see you are well after all these years."

"I'm happy to see you." Kye said. "It is good to know an old ally is still around after our sixty year time skip."

"I would like to stay here and talk, but I'm afraid your friends in Tokyo need our help." Xala said. "There is a Colossal Type neuroi inbound to their position. They'll need help clearing out the others before it gets there."

"Let's go then." Kye said. "Xelia, can I consider you an ally?"

"Do you not remember me?" Xelia asked. "We met just after you destroyed the Orussia Hive in 1945."

Kye searched her memories. Her face lit up as soon as she found the right one. "You were that one neuroi that sounded angry."

"That was me." Xelia said.

"Enough catching up." Xala said. "We need to hurry."

Kye, Xala, and Xelia took off in the direction of Tokyo.

* * *

Most of the witches had run out of ammo, but were still faced by at least one hundred more neuroi. Several weaker neuroi were still floating around, firing beams every which way. Yoshika was doing a good job keeping the beams from tearing up the ground below, but one or two got through every so often. Luckily, they did not hit anything worth hitting.

"Yoshika, Rei, look up there." Mio said when she regrouped with the two. "Those four up there are all Super Large Multi-Core types. There are a handful of

Super Large Single Core types over there as well."

"My group can handle the single cores." Yusu said. "We're all out of ammo, but we can take care of them with the Reppuzan."

"Good." Mio said. "You do that and we'll handle the Multi-Core types."

"They are Class Eight, so be careful." Mei said.

Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Yoko, and Mei split off from Yoshika, Rei, and Mio.

Yusu took charge and flew in with her basic golden aura active. The other girls followed suit, and with the combined efforts of their Reppuzans, they were able to destroy one of their super large single core targets.

"One down." Yoko said.

"I want to try something with one." Mei said. "Let me engage this one solo."

"Go ahead." Yusu said.

Mei coated her sword with a cloak of fire and charged in toward another neuroi. She hit it with a fire magic empowered Reppuzan and was able to destroy it in one hit.

"Nice one, sis." Yoko said.

Erica noticed what Mei had done and had the idea to do the same with her weapon and Sturm. She rocketed up toward one of the single core types and used her ultimate ability, Great Sturm, to destroy it in one hit, then turned toward a second one and launched a long distance Sturm from her weapon, cutting the neuroi in half down the middle and getting a lucky hit on the core, destroying it.

"Very nice, Miss Erica." Yusu said.

"There are two very powerful neuroi presences closing in from the direction of Yokosuka." Sanya said.

"What?" Yoshika said. "Does that mean Kye...? "No, she's with them." Minna said. "The neuroi aren't attacking her, they are flying with her."

"Both of them are above Class Eight." Yoko said. "What is going on?"

As soon as Kye, Xala, and Xelia were within view distance, they immediately joined the battle.

"What's going on?" Mio asked. "Why are neuroi fighting alongside us?"

"Mio, these are Xala and Xelia." Kye answered.

"Xala?" Mio said. "She is still alive?"

"Alive and well, Miss Mio." Xala said. "We are here to help." She launched a powerful blue beam at the remaining single core types and destroyed them all in one shot.

Xala's attack drew the attention of the remaining large and medium type neuroi, as well as several drones. Each of them fired a beam at Xala, who simply held out her "hand" and redirected the beams, as well as strengthening and changing the color from red to blue, back to their sources, destroying every remaining neuroi aside from the larger Multi-Core types.

"Show off." Xelia said.

"Impressive, Xala." Kye said.

"Kye, there are four super large Multi-Core type neuroi left." Mio said. "We could use your help."

"On it." Kye said as she drew Jouten and threw it in Yoshika's direction. "Yoshika, trade me."

Yoshika caught the sword and tossed back the Akarimaru twin. She gripped Jouten in her right hand and Tenshimaru in her left before pushing her aura all the way to the white aura.

"Now they re in for it." Rei said as she drew both of her swords and followed suit, with Mio and Kye not far behind.

"Now that's something to see." Kaylie said.

The Class Eight neuroi launched several beams at the four, who each responded with a Reppuzan. Their Reppuzan attacks collided with the beams and slicing them in two. The Reppuzans did not stop until they cut clean through the neuroi, each destroying one of the five cores.

"They have only four cores left each." Mio said.

"They're about to have none." Yoshika said as she pushed her aura beyond the white aura, changing the color to bright golden.

"We finally get to see the pinnacle aura in action." Layla said.

"Yoshika, wait!" Kye said. "Don't use that power yet. There's a greater challenge coming."

"What?" Yoshika asked.

"There is a colossal sized neuroi on the way." Kye said. "We have to clear these out without using up too much power."

"Then let's all combine our power." Minna said. "All witches, attack!"

The witches moved in, splitting up against the four multi-core type neuroi.

Mio, Minna, Trude, Erica, and Perrine teamed up on the first neuroi. A combination of Minna's Area Destruction, Trude's Ultimate Strength, Erica's Great Sturm, and Perrine's Multi Tonerre destroyed a large portion of the neuroi's body and two of its remaining cores. The neuroi was forced to combine the last two, which opened itself up to attack from Mio's white aura empowered Reppuzan, thus destroying it.

Rei, Sanya, Eila, Lucchini, and Shirley took on the second Multi-Core neuroi. Shirley halted the neuroi's movements with her Speed Control, allowing Lucchini and Sanya to hit it with their ultimates. Eila used her Influence ultimate to force the neuroi to move its cores into Sanya and Lucchini's attacks, allowing them to be destroyed. After the final two cores combined, Rei hit the neuroi with her Light Nova ultimate and finished it off.

Yoshika, Lynne, Kaylie, Layla, Mei, and Yoko teamed up on the third. Kaylie launched her special Time Magic technique, Temporal Slash, at the neuroi, backed up by Yoko's Freeze ability. The Temporal Slash cause part of the neuroi to age quickly and literally fall apart, revealing one core while Yoko's Freeze ability froze another portion of the neuroi in a block of ice. Layla fired her Ruination Arrow ability and was further empowered by Lynne's Ballistic Missile ability. The resulting explosion destroyed the target core and shattered the ice, revealing the third core, which Mei took down quickly with her Flare ability. Yoshika delivered the final blow with a powerful Reppuzan.

Kye, Xala, and Xelia faced the final neuroi. Unlike with the others, this one did not last as long. Kye opened up with a Reppuzan. Xala and Xelia wasted no time adding to Kye's attack with their own powerful blue neuroi beams. The combination of the three attacks completely obscured the neuroi in a flash of light. After the light faded, nothing was left of the neuroi target.

"That was amazing." Yusu said. "But you left me out!"

"Sorry, Yusu." Yoshika said.

"That was excellent teamwork, everyone." Minna said.

"I had a good view of that." Yusu said. "Everyone really clicked."

"I'm afraid we don't have time to praise each other." Kye said. A large shadow was cast over the witches by an extremely large neuroi. "Look. The main course has arrived."

"That is one big neuroi." Lucchini said.

"Its power is above Class Eight." Yoko said.

Kye placed her hand on Minna's shoulder to copy the Area Analysis ability and sensed the neuroi's power for itself. "That thing is as powerful as Xala and Xelia."

"And it is at full power." Xala said. "Normally, either Xelia or I could destroy one of these neuroi, but we'll have to all combine our strength to defeat it."

The colossal neuroi released several drones and fired hundreds of beams at the witches.

Weaving through some beams and blocking others with their shields, the witches and the two allied neuroi closed in on the gargantuan sized neuroi, taking out drones on the way.

Erica shot through the neuroi with her Sturm, leaving a large gaping hole, which compared to the overall size of the neuroi was relatively small. The other witches took advantage of the hole. Perrine, Mei, and Yoko hit the inside of the neuroi with their lightning, fire, and ice magic respectively. Lucchini even left explosive charges inside when she flew through after them. The neuroi started regenerating, but was halted by the explosions from Lucchini's charges and was split in two.

"Nice, Lucchini!" Shirley said.

Their progress was short lived, however, as the neuroi was able to regenerate before the witches could launch another attack.

"Erica, can you cut another hole into it?" Trude asked.

"I can't." Erica answered. "My magic is too low."

"All of our magic is getting weak." Minna said.

"I'll handle it." Yoshika said as she attempted to activate her True Golden Aura, but failed. Her aura simply dissipated. "What?"

"Your magic is too drained to maintain that aura." Kye said just before launching a Reppuzan at the neuroi, leaving a large gash in its body. "We'll have to make do with what we have."

Rei threw a Light Nova into the neuroi, crippling it from the resulting light explosion. The witches were no closer to defeating this colossal neuroi, however, as it regenerated the damage quickly.

"You have caused the neuroi to expend a great deal of its power to heal itself." Xala said. "Unfortunately, I sense that most of you don't have enough energy left to continue battling."

One possibility raced through Kye's mind. "I can do it."

"You are drained, too." Rei said.

"Not nearly as much as any of you." Kye said. "I can still maintain my white aura, and as such, I can activate the Light Aura."

"The what?" Yoshika asked after hearing Kye's claim.

"I'll need Jouten again." Kye said as she traded swords with Yoshika. "You may remember a few years ago when I borrowed Jouten several times. I could never master this technique with Akarimaru. Our enchanted swords are powerful, but only Jouten can handle this."

A bright golden light enveloped Kye, slowly causing her white aura to change color to a deep golden, different from Yoshika's True Golden Aura.

"Such power." Yoko said.

"I'll probably black out after this from magic exhaustion, so please catch me if I do." Kye said. "Mio, have you located the core?"

"Yes." Mio said. "Just now while Rei was attacking it with her light magic. The core is in the dead center."

Kye gripped Jouten and flew up high above the giant neuroi and floated in place. She gathered as much of her power as possible and concentrated it into her sword. As soon as she was ready, she swooped downward at the neuroi.

The neuroi had no intention of allowing Kye to attack it freely and focused all of its might at her in one massive beam, so large that she could not avoid it and was forced to take it head on. The beam however, could not penetrate Kye's aura. She simply flew through it.

"Kami Katto." Kye said quietly as she launched an immensely powerful golden Reppuzan discharge at the neuroi, slicing it cleanly in two longwise from one end to the other and severing the core. The core shattered along with the neuroi itself and the sky was filled with white fragments.

The witches were astonished by Kye's performance.

"What was that?" Rei, among several other witches, said.

Kye floated back down to the witches, still able to hold her power intact. The witches where in awe over the power she was emitting.

"This is the power of the Miyafujis." Kye said shortly before fainting. Yoshika and Mio caught her.

"We should go back to Yokosuka." Yusu said.

"Yes." Yoshika agreed. "She will need to rest for a while."

* * *

******And that concludes Chapter 6. I apologize for not releasing this chapter yesterday as intended. I was busy and was unable to finish it in time.  
**

* * *

******Abilities Introduced  
**

******Light Aura - Kye (With Jouten Only)  
**

******Kami Katto - Kye (With Jouten Only)  
**

* * *

******The ranking system I use was brought to my attention by a reviewer, FLAZE35, so I wanted to go into detail on this. I use the United States Airforce / Army ranking system for the officer ranks you see. I think I mentioned this at one point, but due to several witches being referred to by different ranking systems (and not always correct to their home country I might add) I decided to condense all the ranks into one system for the sake of simplicity. Below are a few comparisons. The only rank not taken from the US rank system directly is the General of the Allied Forces, which is equivalent to the General of the Army and General of the Airforce ranks.  
**

******Ranks I Use - Insignia - Nato Rank Code - US Rank Code  
**

General of the Allied Forces - 5 Stars - O10 - N/A  
General - 4 Stars - O9 - O10  
Lieutenant General - 3 Stars - O8 - O9  
Major General - 2 Stars - O7 - O8  
Brigadier General - 1 Star - O6 - O7  
Colonel - Bird - O5 - O6  
Lieutenant Colonel - Silver Leaf - O4 - O5  
Major - Gold Leaf - O3 - O4  
Captain - Two Silver Bars - O2 - O3  
First Lieutenant - One Silver Bar - O1 - O2  
Second Lieutenant - One Gold Bar - O1 - O1******  
**

******Rank Comparison (General of the Allied Forces is a special rank created by me. Treat the top row as its equivalent.)  
**

******British Army/Royal Marines - ********US Army/AF/MC** - Royal AF - Royal Navy - US Navy  


Field Marshal (Army), Captain General (RM) - General of the Army, General of the Air Force - Marshal of the Royal Air Force - Admiral of the Fleet - Fleet Admiral  
General - General - Air Cheif Marshal - Admiral - Admiral  
Lieutenant-General - Lieutenant General - Air Marshal - Vice-Admiral - Vice Admiral  
Major-General - Major General - Air Vice-Marshal - Rear-Admiral - Rear Admiral (Upper Half)  
Brigadier - Brigadier General - Air Commodore - Commodore - Rear Admiral (Lower Half)  
Colonel - Colonel - Group Captain - Captain - Captain  
Lieutenant-Colonel - Lieutenant Colonel - Wing Commander - Commander - Commander  
Major - Major - Squadron Leader - Lieutenant-Commander - Lieutenant Commander  
Captain - Captain - Flight Lieutenant - Lieutenant - Lieutenant  
Lieutenant - First Lieutenant - Flying Officer - Sub-Lieutenant - Lieutenant (Junior Grade)  
Second Lieutenant - Second Lieutenant - Pilot Officer - N/A - Ensign******  
**

My source for these ranks and comparisons: wiki/United_Kingdom_and_United_States_military_ran ks_compared

Please be aware that although I did not cover every type of rank system used in Strike Witches, I covered the more important ones. The US Air Force and Royal Air Force Ranks are the most commonly used, with a few occurrences of the Royal Navy and US Navy ranks. Some of the original ranks did not make sense to me (IE. Lucchini's original rank being Ensign where she is from the Romagna Air Force (compare to the real life Italian Air Force) where her rank should have been "Sottotenente" or Sublieutenant in English. Due to this, I condensed all ranks into one category for simplicity as mentioned above. I also must comment that Mio's rank should have been the Imperial Japanese navy rank "Lieutenant-Commander" (Equal to Major / Squadron Leader).

* * *

******Neuroi Class and Type System  
**

******The Neuroi Class system is solely a reference to the power of the neuroi, not the size. The Neuroi Types/Sizes that typically populate these Classes are listed out next to the Classes for comparison.  
**

Class 1: Weak Drones  
Class 2: Stronger Drones, Small Type  
Class 3: Small Type, Medium Type  
Class 4: Medium Type  
Class 5: Large Type  
Class 6: Large Type Mobile Core, Humanoid  
Class 7: Medium Elite, Super Large Type Single Core, Humanoid  
Class 8: Super Large Type Muti-Core, Humanoid  
Class 9: Colossal Type, Elite Humanoid (Named)  
Class 10: Unknown

Note 1: For comparisons, most Large Types that appeared in the anime should be considered Class 5. An example is the neuroi from Season 1 Episode 2 during Yoshika's first battle. And example of a Medium Type Neuroi in the Class 4 category would be the neuroi in S1E3 that Yoshika helped Lynne defeat (and the reason I consider that one Class 4 instead of Class 5 is that it was fast, but not very strong). The cube neuroi that the witches fought in S1E8 where Yoshika scored her first core kill is a hard one to classify... it seemed to be a medium sized neuroi before it split up, so I'm GUESSING it was a Class 4 then split into several Class 1... but that one is up for grabs, call it what you want.

Note 2: Xala and Xelia are Elite Humanoid and are Class 9.

Note 3: These Class and Type comparisons aren't 100% accurate for every single neuroi and should be treated only as a guideline, not pure fact. There could be some cases of certain smaller neuroi being more powerful than typical thus being Classified higher than most neuroi of their type. One such case includes the medium size transforming neuroi that appear in the Strike Witches Movie. Those definitely can be ranked higher than typical medium size neuroi and as such I have included a "Medium Elite" type that ranks at Class 7. (On the note of the Strike Witches Movie, this story as well as the prequel "Worldwide Liberation" are not canon with the Movie. Worldwide Liberation was written as a continuation of Season 2, and Return is a continuation of Worldwide Liberation.)

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you have any questions or wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (I cannot reply to you personally if it is not a signed review).**


	7. Chapter 7: Dreams

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 7: Dreams

April 15th, 2012

* * *

After she passed out in battle, Kye was brought to the Yokosuka Base. She slept soundly, but would not wake up even when somebody tried to shake her.  
Yoshika, being Yoshika, stayed by her side the entire time with Rei, Kaylie, and Layla nearby.

Sometime into the morning, before daylight, Kye had a dream.

* * *

Kye rose from her bed and immediately knew she was in her dream world. She waved her hands around to make sure she had control of her body before walking over to the door. Before leaving the room, she turned around and saw that she was in a lavishly decorated room with an elegant four-poster bed.

"What is this?" She muttered. She noticed a mirror on the wall and was surprised at what she saw. In the mirror was her reflection, but she was not wearing her typical Fuso Navy uniform, but a very expensive purple kimono riddled with flowers outlined in black. Her golden blonde hair was knee length and slightly curled, instead of medium back length and tied into a ponytail.

A single sword was strapped to her back with a dark purple silk strap. The hilt was wrapped also in dark purple silk instead of the usual gold silk. She instantly understood the meaning.

"Jouten." Kye said. "The real Jouten. Why am I having a dream like this now?"

She turned back to the door and left the room. She found herself entering a long hallway with purple carpet and stone brick walls lit dimly by torches placed at set distances down the wall.

"There's no doubt about it." Kye said quietly with her hands over her heart. "I'm home."

"Princess!" A guard could be heard saying as he ran up to Kye. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I am fine." Kye replied, attempting to speak properly.

"Come then." He said. "The King wants to see you in the throne room and I am to escort you."

"Lead the way." Kye said as the two headed down the hallway.

After a few minutes, they arrived in the throne room.

"Hello, King Akari." Kye said as she approached him.

"You are my daughter." King Akari said. "There is no need to address me formally."

"Father?" Kye asked.

"That's better." The King said. He gestured for her to come sit in the smaller throne next to his. "Come, we have subjects visiting today."

"Yes, father." Kye said as she took her place next to him. "Where is mother?"

"She has left to meet with the King of Arcanoth." The King said.

"Do you know when she will return?" Kye asked.

"A few days I imagine." The King answered.

One of the guard approached Kye and the King and bowed before speaking. "Your majesty, your subjects await."

"Bring them in." The King replied.

"At once." The guard said before opening the door.

A small group of medium class civilians entered the throne room and bowed before King Akari.

"You may raise and speak." He said.

"Your majesty, I humbly request that more guards be posted in the market district." One man said. "Theft has increased in the last several weeks."

The King gestured for the Guard Captain to come forward. "Captain, how many guards are posted in the market district?"

"We have twenty five guards in that district, sire." The Captain said.

"Add five more." The King ordered. "If that is not enough, I want you to personally go to the market district and reassign guard locations until every stall and shop is in view distance of at least one guard."

"Of course, your majesty." The Captain said. "I will go directly to the reassigning if that is okay with you."

"I leave it to you, Captain." The King said. He turned back to the subject that present the problem. "Is there anything else I can help you?"

"No, your majesty." The man said. "Thank you." He left the throne room after bowing again to the King.

A woman approached the King and bowed before speaking. "Your majesty, I would like to request self-defense training be given to the women of the lower class district. I have received reports of husbands abusing their wives and teenage daughters."

This sparked Kye's attention. She listened, but made sure nobody noticed that she had taken an interest.

"I am afraid we do not have enough martial arts masters to go around right now." The King said. "All of our masters are very busy giving training to the guard recruits."

"I beg you." The woman said. "My daughter is one of the abused women."

"I cannot grant this request at this time." The King said. "Please return in a few weeks if the problem persists. One of our masters will be freed up by then."

"Yes, your majesty." The woman said before she turned to leave.

"Wait." Kye said, standing up. "I will come with you."

"What are you doing?" The King asked.

"I cannot stand by with a problem like this." Kye said. "I will handle it myself."

"If you wish." The King said.

Two guards attempted to accompany Kye out with the woman, but she waved them away. After Kye and the woman left the throne room, the Prince spoke up to the King.

"Is that how you want the future Queen to act?" Prince Zen said, visibly outraged at his older sister's actions. "A ruler must understand that not every problem can be resolved the way she thinks."

"It is alright, Zen." The King said. "Let her do what she wants while she can. She knows she won't be able to help the subjects like this once she is crowned. And besides, she will be favored among the subjects long before she is crowned by these actions toward them."

"It is a terrible idea." Prince Zen said.

"That's enough, Zen." The King said. "Next."

* * *

Kye had left the palace with the woman who presented the problem about husbands abusing the women in her district.

"What will you do, Princess?" The woman asked.

"I want you to gather up the people of your district. "I will speak to them as a whole about this problem."

"Yes, of course." The woman said. "Where should I hold the meeting? There are..." The woman was suddenly silent.

Kye glanced over to her and saw that she was stricken with fear. The woman was looking at the sky. Kye looked up to find the source of the woman's fear. A large black and red metallic creature casted a large shadow across the kingdom. "Neuroi!"

* * *

Back in the Yokosuka Base where Kye was sleeping, Yoshika suddenly heard her talk in her sleep.

"Neuroi." The sleeping Kye muttered.

"What?" Rei said as she jumped up and ran over to her mother. "What's going on?"

"She must be having a nightmare about fighting the neuroi." Yoshika said. "I hope she wakes up soon."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Kye's dream, she jumped from the ground to the top of a nearby building and had her sword drawn before she landed.

"Eat this, neuroi!" Kye said. "Blade of Light!" She fired a Reppuzan-like attack at the neuroi, cutting straight through the monster. Kye turned back to the woman down below. "Go back to the palace and tell the King we are under attack. Tell him I sent you and he'll see you immediately."

"Yes, milady." The woman said before running back toward the palace.

'I am back in the Light Kingdom, but do I have access to all of my old powers?' Kye thought to herself. 'One way to find out.'

She jumped off the building and flew high into the sky toward the giant neuroi.

"Yes!" Kye said. She fired several more sword discharges at the neuroi and left large cuts in several places. She tossed her sword over to her left hand and turned to where the right side of her body was facing the neuroi. She held her right hand in front of her with her index and middle fingers outstretched. Sparks started jumping from her fingers shortly before she flicked her arm toward the neuroi and released a powerful bolt of lightning.

Kye's lightning attack hit one of the cuts left by her previous sword attacks and decimated the neuroi leaving a large gaping hole where a cut once was.

Suddenly, everything became dark and groggy. She was waking up.

* * *

Kye sat up and was immediately flocked by Yoshika, Rei, Kaylie, and Layla.

"Are you okay?" Rei asked.

"Don't raise up too fast." Yoshika said.

"I'm fine." Kye said. "I just had a dream."

"What was it about?" Rei asked curiously.

Kye didn't want to tell them so she lied. "I don't remember. What happened after I passed out yesterday?"

"You destroyed the giant neuroi and we brought you back here." Yoshika said. "We have a meeting today with the Generals. Will you be able to come?"

"Yes." Kye said. "What time is it?"

"It's still dark outside." Yoshika said. "The meeting will be soon after lunch."

"Alright." Kye said. "I'm going back to sleep for a little while then. I still feel exhausted."

"I want to talk to you about that new technique you used yesterday when you wake up." Yoshika said.

"Alright." Kye said just before she dozed off.

Rei, Kaylie, and Layla left the room after knowing Kye was okay. Yoshika stayed behind and dozed off in a chair.

* * *

**There's Chapter 7 for ya! I won't reveal the purpose of the Dream World yet, but it is an important factor in this story. All will be revealed eventually. There are several things mentioned or hinted at in this chapter that will have significance later on as well.**

* * *

******Abilities Introduced**

******Blade of Light - Kye in Dream World  
**

******Unnamed Lightning Technique - Kye in Dream World  
**

******Independent Free Flight - Kye in Dream World**

* * *

******Characters Introduced  
**

******King Akari - Kye's father in the Dream World and ruler of the Kingdom of Light  
**

******Prince Zen Akari - Kye's younger brother in the Dream World.**

* * *

******Characters Mentioned  
**

******The Queen - Kye's mother in the Dream World**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**************4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

* * *

**************If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you have any questions or wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (I cannot reply to you personally if it is not a signed review).**


	8. Chapter 8: More Dreams

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 8: Shared Dream

April 20th, 2012

* * *

"Oh, Kye?" Yoshika said. "She's been distant these last few days."

Yoshika, Yusu, and Ayame were sitting at a cafe together in town. It was the first time they were able to have any personal time together, so they made the most of it.

"Do you think she's having trouble adapting to the time shift?" Yusu asked.

"I don't think so." Yoshika said. "She's always been quick to adapt to anything, like that one time in Orussia when two of the 502nd witches were shot down and trapped inside a labyrinthian neuroi. She came up with the idea of shielding them with our auras so we could break them out without hurting them. No, I think it's something else. She mentioned a dream after she woke up from the Tokyo battle. She said she didn't remember the dream, but I know she lied."

"What do you think the dream was about?" Ayame asked. "Kye is a very strong willed, so for something to stay on her mind like this, it has to be serious."

"We can only guess." Yoshika said. "I'm concerned though. She always seemed to know everything and had everything planned out in more than one way."

"What are you suggesting?" Yusu asked.

Yoshika took a deep breath before continuing. "I think she knows something we don't."

* * *

Meanwhile, Kye had just landed at the witch shrine in the mountains where she had restored Yoshika and Mio's magic.

"I'm glad this place is untouched." Kye said. She walked around to the side and up the stairs leading to the top of the shrine. She sat down on the edge of the roof in a cross-legged position and had a wonderful view of the forest below.

"Maybe I can do some thinking here." Kye said as she activated her basic golden aura and closed her eyes. Shortly after, she felt the world slip from her grasp. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the same dream world as before. "Good."

* * *

After their visit to the cafe, Yoshika, Yusu, and Ayame wondered around town. They regularly received waves and hellos from random civilians. Occasionally a younger child would run up to them for a few moments before being called back by their parents.

Yoshika watched the parents as their children would run back to them with slight tears in her eyes. Ayame and Yusu noticed, but only Ayame said anything.

"What's wrong, mom?" Ayame asked.

"Mom..." Yoshika muttered as she kept walking.

After the three of them finally arrived a short distance from the base and were alone, Yoshika bent down and cried.

"Yoshika!" Yusu said as she ran over to her only to be swatted away.

"What's wrong?" Ayame asked.

Yoshika was able to stabilize herself long enough to talk. "Seeing all of those children with their parents was painful for me."

"What do you mean?" Yusu asked.

"I skipped it." Yoshika said. She stood up and turned to Ayame. "I didn't get to see my own daughter grow up! In one seemed like one day, you went from four years old to sixty four years old!" She turned to Yusu. "I show up here sixty years later and I find out I have a great granddaughter. I missed your childhood, too, and I didn't even get to see your parents."

Yusu and Ayame didn't know what to say in response, not that they got a chance.

"I can't come out in public again like this for a while." Yoshika said. She turned away and spoke once more before jumping into the sky. "I'll be back. I need some time."

Yoshika took to the air and flew away as fast as possible, easily breaking the sound barrier in the first few seconds of flight. She didn't stop until she reached the witch shrine.

* * *

Yoshika wasn't sure why she went to the shrine, but she at least expected to be alone there. She was surprised when she found Kye on top of the shrine, seemingly sleep in a sitting position.

"Kye?" Yoshika said as she approached her. "Her aura is active, so she can't be asleep." Yoshika reached over to Kye and placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up, but as soon as she touched Kye, her vision was overcome by a bright light shortly before falling unconscious.

After an unknown amount of time passed, she woke up in a dimly lit corridor. She glanced around, but was clueless as to her location. "What?" Yoshika muttered, confused. "Where am I?"

She climbed to her feet and started wondering around. After several minutes, she found herself in an open hallway overlooking a large room. In the large room, she saw a lavishly robed man with a crown sitting in a throne with two others to either of his side. On the far side was a young man she did not recognize, but on the close side was Kye dressed in a dark purple kimono. In front of the three were several peasants.

Yoshika gazed into the large room, watching the royally dressed man deal with the peasants for a few minutes before an armored guard approached her with his sword drawn.

"Who are you, and how are you in the upper hallways?" The guard asked with clear hostility.

Yoshika was taken by surprise. No man had ever drawn a weapon at her. She immediately backed away from him and tried to reason. "I'm Yoshika Miyafuji, I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to be here. I'm here to see Kye."

Several more guards ran up from behind the first, each with their swords drawn.

"She says she is here to see Kye, but she is armed." The first guard said. "Clearly, she is after the Princess's life. Apprehend her."

Yoshika grew more nervous as the guards charged at her. "Wait! I'm not here to hurt anyone!"

The guards ignored her, prompting her to turn and run.

In the room below, Kye noticed the guards chasing something, but couldn't see what.

"What's going on up there?" The King bellowed.

"An intruder, sire." One of the guards said. "We have the situation under control. The intruder will be apprehended shortly and brought before you for judgment."

"Make it quick." The King said before turning back to his subjects.

As Yoshika was running, she darted through several hallways, only to meet more guards. Eventually, she ran into a dead end, cornered by over twenty guards. She backed into the wall and placed her hand on Jouten.

"Stop now and I promise you will not be sentenced to death." The guard said. "You will be brought in front of King Akari and given a fair trial.

'Akari?' Yoshika thought. 'That's the same name as the Goddess Kye Akari. I don't know what's going on here, but I might as well play along until I can talk to Kye.'

Yoshika relaxed her arm from her sword. "Alright then. Take me to your king."

"First, hand over the weapons." The guard said.

"I will not." Yoshika said. "You have my word that I will not use my swords against any of you so long as my life is safe."

"You are making this hard, girl." The guard said.

"Just let her keep her damn weapons." Another guard said. "She poses no threat to the king, princess, or prince, especially with so many guards nearby."

"So be it." The guard leader said. "Follow me, girl."

Yoshika reluctantly obeyed. In only a few minutes, the guards escorted her all the way back to the throne room and presented her to the king.

Kye had her eyes closed with her head propped up on her arm, not paying attention to anything.

"This is the intruder, your majesty." The guard leader said. "I caught this girl in the upper hallway overlooking the throne room. She is armed and potentially dangerous and told us she was here to see Kye. I believe she intended to take the princess's life."

The King glanced over to Kye. "It's your call, Kye."

Kye sighed uninterestedly and still didn't open her eyes. She instead waved her hand outward in a shooing motion. "Throw her out. It's not like she could have hurt me even if she had gotten the chance."

"At once, your highness." The guard said.

"Kye!" Yoshika said as the guards pulled her toward the door.

"That voice." Kye muttered as she looked to see whom it came from. As soon as she realized who it was, Kye was by her side in an instant. "Unhand her! Why did you not ask her name?"

"She told us her name, but I felt it was irrele..." The guard said, but was cut off by Kye. She slapped him so hard, that she knocked him clear across the throne room and into the far wall, a feat that caught everyone in the room, even Yoshika, by surprise.

"Kye, what are you doing?" The King said, standing up from his throne.

"You said it was my call, father." Kye said. "So stay out of it."

"You insolent..." He started to say, but was interrupted by Kye, who had drawn her sword and pointed it at him.

"I SAID STAY OUT OF IT." Kye said adamantly. The King realized how serious Kye was and sat back down, allowing her to do as he pleased.

The prince in the seat next to him clapped his hands in applause, impressed by Kye's actions.

By now, the guards had unhanded Yoshika and backed away from her and Kye.

"I don't know how you got here, but we need to go." Kye whispered to Yoshika before grabbing her hand and teleporting away.

* * *

Kye and Yoshika appeared inside a fair sized, ornately decorated room. Kye sat down on the bed and stay silent for a few moments.

"How are you here?" Kye said, breaking the silence.

"I don't know." Yoshika said. "The last thing I remember was you sitting on top of the shrine. I touched your shoulder to wake you, but some light flashed and the next thing I know I'm waking up in this castle. Where are we?"

"I see." Kye said. "Somehow you have entered my dream world."

"Your dream world?" Yoshika repeated, confused.

"Yes." Kye said. "I don't know why, but a few days ago I had a dream about this place, but unlike normal dreams, I was in complete control of myself, like right now. It feels real doesn't it?"

"I thought it was real." Yoshika said.

"In a sense, it is." Kye said. She sighed before speaking again. "Come on, we need to return to the real world."

"Hold on." Yoshika said. "I want to know what's going on here. I knew you were hiding something, but to have a dream world like this? What is this all about?"

"Hiding something?" Kye said. "This place has nothing to do with the real world. I don't even know why I'm able to come here."

"I don't believe that." Yoshika said. "You wouldn't have come all the way out here to the shrine if all of this means nothing."

"It really is hard to lie to you." Kye said. "Look, Yoshika, you are going to have to trust me for now. I don't have all of the answers yet, and until I do this whole thing needs to be kept a secret."

"You know enough that you can ease my mind." Yoshika said.

"I can't tell you, Yoshika." Kye said. "It's not just my secret to tell. I might can tell you later on after I have figured all of this out, but not yet!"

"Fine." Yoshika said. "I'll keep this dream world of yours a secret, but I want answers later."

"Alright then." Kye said. "Now we need to get you back to the real world." Kye grabbed Yoshika's arm again, and shortly after a bright light flashed, enveloping both of them.

After the light cleared, the two witches found themselves back on top of the shrine with Kye in her typical uniform.

"Secret!" Kye said as she jumped off the shrine and flew back toward Yokosuka with Yoshika following suit.

* * *

**This is the last of the dream chapters for now. We'll be moving on with the modern day plot in the next chapter. Yoshika doesn't yet know this, but the dreamworld is going to play a heavy role later. I won't say any specifics yet, but the modern day neuroi war and the dreamworld are intertwined somehow.  
**

**Sorry this chapter is two days later than scheduled! Had a few roadblocks that kept me from getting this one done, including a power outage among other things. Hopefully the next chapter will be on time next Wednesday!**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**********4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	9. Chapter 9: Battle Plan

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 9: Battle Plan

April 22nd, 2012

* * *

"General Yamanashi wants to talk to us?" Minna asked.

"Yes, ma'am." A Naval Soldier reported. "He requested the presence of Generals Miyafuji, Wilcke, and Sakamoto, as well as Lieutenant Miyafuji and Captain Clostermann."

"I'll go find Yoshika and Perrine." Kye said in a rather distant tone as she jumped up from her seat and headed for the door.

"No need, ma'am." The soldier said. "They have already been informed and are likely waiting in the briefing room by now."

"Alright." Kye said as she walked through the door. "I'll head on over there then."

Mio and Minna exchanged glances, wondering what could be on Kye's mind to cause her to act this way.

"Thank you, soldier." Mio said. "We'll be right over."

* * *

Mio and Minna only took a few minutes to catch up to the others. Everyone who was meant to be in the briefing room was already present. In addition to Kye, Mio, Minna, Yoshika, and Perrine, the five witches of the younger generation were also present. Kaylie, Layla, Mei, and Yoko were sitting in seat around the room while Yusu was standing in the front with General Yamanashi.

"Ah, good." Yamanashi started. "Everyone is here."

"So what are we meeting for?" Minna asked.

"This morning, I sent a recon out to the neuroi base to gauge its defenses, led by Colonel Yusu." The General said while gesturing at Yoko and Mei. "The mission was not only successful, but very informative. The nearby base is at its most vulnerable at the moment, having lost a large number of its forces in the Battle for Tokyo eight days ago. The enemy has not completely recovered yet and as such, we will take advantage of this. Before I go into the specifics, however, I will introduce a new face to those of you who are from 1952."

He walked over to the side door and opened it, allowing a very beautiful blonde haired girl walk in.

"Louise!" Yoko said immediately.

"Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Colonel Louise H. Clostermann the Third, granddaughter of Brigadier General Louise H. Clostermann and great granddaughter of Captain Perrine H. Clostermann." Yamanashi said.

"I have another great granddaughter?" Perrine gasped.

"Oh, that's my fault!" Mei said. "Grandma Louise had two daughters, our mom and her mom."

"Hello!" The younger Clostermann girl greeted. "I am pleased to meet you."

Perrine immediately ran over and hugged the new girl.

"That's wonderful!" Yoshika said.

"Hi, uh... Great Grandmother Perrine, you.. squeezing too.. tight." She barely managed to say.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Perrine said as she backed off.

"When mother told me the stories of your time with the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, I was just a girl." Louise said. "As I grew up and learned more, I was saddened that I would never get to meet you, but here you are... and not only you, but multiple members of the 501st. I am honored to be in your presence. I am Louise H. Clostermann the Third."

"Third?" Perrine asked quietly.

"Yes." Louise explained. "Grandma is the first and my mother is the second. We all share the same name." She glanced over to Yoko and Mei. "Hey, you two!"

"Hi, Louise." Yoko said. "I haven't seen you since last year."

"Well, it was unfortunate that I was put on a base halfway around the world from you." Louise said. "As soon as the news of the Strike Witches' Return, my superiors were a little more lenient when I asked to be transferred here."

"Whoa, are you serious?" Mei asked. "You're not just here for the mission?"

"That's right." Louise answered. "I've been transferred to your squadron. I'm here to stay."

"That's great!" Yoko said. "It'll be just like old times."

They were interrupted by General Yamanashi clearing his throat. "I hate to interrupt the reunion, but it will have to wait until later. Lieutenant Colonel Clostermann has been transferred to the Fuso Section of the 511th Joint Fighter Wing."

"Her first mission with us will be the assault mission we will be conducting against the nearby neuroi base." Yusu said. "Not counting any of the 501st, Louise here is currently the top ace in the world. Even the great granddaughters of Major Barkhorn and Lieutenant Hartmann cannot beat her. I should also mention that she has shown capabilities with Lightning Magic that rival that of even you, Miss Perrine."

"With the addition of Lieutenant Colonel Clostermann, we are ready to take the fight to the neuroi." Yamanashi said. "General Miyafuji, given your reputation as the best strategist of the last neuroi war, I'll pass the floor to you and those who participated in the recon mission this morning."

Yoko and Mei made their way down to the center to meet with Kye and Yusu. Yusu touched what Kye and the other 501st witches had originally thought was a chalkboard, but were proved wrong when it lit up like a television screen.

"What is this contraption?" Kye asked.

"It's a touchscreen connected to a computer." Yusu explained. She pulled a picture up on the screen and maximized it. "This is a satellite image of the neuroi base. Yoko, Mei, and I took a look around this morning and figured a few key points out about it."

She pointed to four towers, each located on in the four corners of the base. "These towers are the defenses. While all four towers are active, the forcefield around the entire base is at its strongest. Yoko used her Area Analysis to determine that. She sensed cores in each tower and suspected that they powered the forcefield. Mei confirmed this using her Magic Eye."

"That's right." Mei said. "I saw the cores in each one and there was a stream of energy connecting the cores to the forcefield."

"I can confirm that these tower neuroi are Class Nine Defensive." Yoko said. "Defensive neuroi are for one purpose only, and that is as their name implies."

"To get inside, we need to take down the forcefield, but the forcefield is too powerful." Yusu said.

"I was able to measure the power of the forcefield, and I can safely say that the only thing I've sensed that is more powerful were the True Golden Aura used by Yoshika and the Light Aura used by Kye." Yoko explained.

"From what I gather, Yoshika and I will have to use our strongest auras to break through the forcefield and then take down the towers." Kye said. "As each tower neuroi is destroyed, I suspect that the forcefield will be weakened. Yoko, you know the measure of the White Aura, correct?"

"Yes." Yoko confirmed.

"Good." Kye said. "Yoshika and I will slip through the forcefield and take down one of the towers. You will need to tell us if the forcefield is still too strong for the White Aura. If it is, Yoshika and I will move on to the next tower and keep persisting until either the forcefield has been weakened enough to allow the White Aura to slip through, or until the forcefield is destroyed altogether. After that, I need more information to determine the rest of the strategy. Mei, how deep were you able to see into the base?"

"I was able to see through all the way to the main core." Mei said.

"Is this main core an equivalent to a Hive Core?" Kye asked.

"Basically yes." Mei said.

"Good." Kye said. "That makes this easier. We will need an infiltration team to make their way inside and through the base to find and destroy this main core. One moment." She turned on her intercom. "Xala, Xelia, do you read me?"

"Yes, Kye." Xala said. "Loud and clear. Xelia is here as well."

"Good." Kye said. "Are you within the general vicinity of Yokosuka?"

"We are hovering in the clouds over your base as you speak." Xala answered.

"Drop down to the base and come to the briefing room." Kye said. "I need you for something."

"Right away." Xala said.

In under a minute, Xala and Xelia descended to the ground and made their way to the briefing room.

"Alright, we are planning an assault on the neuroi base near here." Kye said. "There will be two operations going on at the same time. The main force will be above fighting the neuroi while a smaller force will be infiltrating the base to destroy the main core. Will you be able to navigate this team to their destination?"

"Yes, we both know the base inside and out." Xelia said. "But, how will you get through the forcefield?"

"We have a plan for that." Kye said. "Yoshika and I will slip through using our strongest auras and destroy the towers one by one until everyone can get inside."

"There is a problem with that." Xala said. "You must destroy all four towers together or more specifically, the last and first must go down within five seconds of each other. If this cannot be accomplished, the towers will repair and re-strengthen the forcefield."

"That means we need to get four people inside before any towers go down." Kye said. "Yoshika and I can account for two. What about you two? Can you get inside?"

"The forcefield has no effect on neuroi." Xelia said. "We can enter regardless of the forcefield."

"Good." Kye said. "That luckily brings our number to four."

"Something else I should mention." Xala said. "You will need to destroy the towers quickly upon entering the forcefield, otherwise the neuroi on base will attack. They will attack regardless, but you will want everyone else in the battle at that point."

"And if we can't destroy the towers before their forces realize we are there, we will have to fight them off while attempting to destroy the towers." Kye said. "We'll have to move fast then. That means no holding back, Yoshika."

"Got it." Yoshika said with a strong resolve.

"After the towers are dealt with, I will escort your infiltration team to the main core of the base." Xala said. "Xelia can help the combat team on the outside fight off the base's defense."

"I think that just about does it for the strategy." Kye said. "Destroy the towers together, start fighting neuroi, and a team will infiltrate and destroy the base's main core."

"Incredible." Yamanashi said. "With only that much information, you were able to not only create a formidable strategy, but also adapt it when a certain part was flawed."

"Mio, Minna, did you get all of that?" Kye asked.

"Yes." Minna said. "I'll gather the Strike Witches and brief them. Do you have any suggestions on the infiltration team?"

"Any of the 501st is capable of performing this mission, but a few stand out." Kye said. "I want Mio to lead the infiltration, Xala will be the guide, and Perrine and Louise will be the rest of your muscle."

"Why not just hit the base like you did the Orussia Hive in 1945?" Minna asked.

"Xala and Xelia gave me a good reason why that won't work anymore." Kye said. "I overpowered that Hive because the neuroi back then were not prepared for somebody as powerful as me. They are prepared now."

"Not even Kye's Kami Katto would be able to pierce through the forcefield and still have enough power left to tear through the base and hit the core." Xala explained.

"Not to mention that if I try it and it doesn't work, I'll pretty much be shelved for the rest of the battle." Kye said. "That technique drains all of my magic power."

"I see." Minna said. "I will brief the rest of the team on this strategy. When will this mission take place?"

"Tomorrow." Yusu said. "Today would be ideal, but we need everyone to be rested up and at full strength for this mission, so we will start tomorrow at 1000 hours."

* * *

******************************New Character Profile  
**

******************************Louise H. Closterman III  
**Relation: Great Granddaughter of Perrine H. Clostermann, Cousin to Kiyoko and Mei Akiyama  
Age: 20 (As of August 5, 2012)  
Nickname: Louise the Lightning  
Date of Birth: February 16th, 1992  
Height: 155 CM  
Hair: Long Blonde Straight  
Eye Color: Blue  
Affiliation: Gallian Airforce, 511th Joint Fighter Wing  
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel  
Weapon: Enchanted Rapier  
Familiar: Chartreux (Same as Perrine, inherited)  
Magic Abilities: Lightning Magic and Lightning Weapon Spells  
Notes 1: Louise's Enchanted Rapier is inherited from Perrine, although the two don't make this connection just yet. Perrine had two Enchanted Rapiers before she and the other Strike Witches were transported through time. One of them was left back in her home in Gallia whereas the other was on her person at the time and traveled with her. Louise's Rapier, being enchanted, is still as strong as Perrine's. Louise has integrated her Lightning Magic with her Rapier, unknowing that her Rapier is indeed an enchanted weapon.  
Notes 2: The family relation between Perrine and Louise III is simply like this: Perrine - Louise - Louise II - Louise III. The first Louise had two daughters, Louise II being the older and the younger being Kiyoko and Mei's mother, which is how Louise III is a cousin to Kiyori and Mei. It should also be noted that all three named Louise have kept Perrine's last name.

* * *

**************************Family Relations between Perrine, Mio, Kiyori, Mei, and Louise explained.  
**

Mio Sakamoto + Unnamed Husband = Nori Sakamoto

Nori Sakamoto + Grandpa Akiyama = Unnamed Son of Nori (With last name Akiyama)

Takeko Katou + Unnamed Husband = "Grandpa Katou"

Perrine Clostermann + Unnamed Husband = Louise Closterman 1st

Louise Clostermann 1st + Grandpa Katou = Louise Clostermann 2nd and Unnamed Daughter of Louise 1st

Unnamed Son of Nori + Unnamed Daughter of Louise 1st = Mei Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama

Louise Clostermann 2nd + Unnamed Husband = Louise Clostermann 3rd

* * *

**The 511th Joint Fighter Wing  
**

This JFW is comprised of the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the 501st. This JFW is by far the largest JFW with 30-40 members spread across the world. As such the JFW has been divided into sections. There are three of these sections, which are the Fuso Section (which includes Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Kiyori, Mei, and now Louise the 3rd) the North Liberion Section and the European Section. The NL and Euro sections include a mixture of grandchildren and great grandchildren of Shirley, Lucchini, Lynne, Sanya, Eila, Minna, Trude, and Erica. Louise the 2nd is in the Euro section, which also was Louise the 3rd's former section before transferring to the Fuso Section.

* * *

**Alright! Finally to the Author's Notes for this chapter. I wanted to release this week's chapter early for two reasons. Partially for last week's chapter being late, and partially as a Christmas Present to the readers! We're going full on into the battle next chapter!**

**Perrine's Daughter, Louise, from The Neuroi Rebellion, and Louise the 3rd from this story are based off the same character. If any of you read my Avatar story as well, there is a character in that story also based off this character. The base character is Lieutenant Louise Chevalier from my original story "Realm of Dragons". Louise is one of my favorite characters and is good friends with Kye in the original. In this story, Kye and Louise won't be as close as in the original given the time difference, but their friendship will not be omitted. The Louise that appears in this story and in my Avatar story are physically identical to the original Louise. The original Louise is a prodigy with lightning magic and rapier skills, which lightning magic in the original story is considered extremely difficult to control. She's better than all but Kye in the original.**

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**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	10. Chapter 10: The Witches Attack

**I don't normally put an Author's Note here, but I will make a special case. Chapter 9 and 10 were released on the same day, so make sure to check out Ch. 9 first if you haven't!  
**

**I felt as though this chapter would make a great addition to my Christmas Present to the readers. There is a lot of juicy stuff in this one, and I hope you enjoy it. There's just one thing I want you all to know: everything has a purpose. It may not make sense at first, but it will eventually. Now enough from me, I'll see you at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

Fuso Arc

Chapter 10: The Witches Attack

April 23rd, 2012

* * *

1000 hours came fast for the witches. Everyone had been briefed and by 1000 hours was in flight for the neuroi base near Fuso. To conserve magic power, the witches flew at a cruise speed halfway between Mach 1 and Mach 2. The witches arrived at their destination, six hundred kilometers southeast of Fuso, in just under twenty minutes.

The witches hovered high in the sky above the neuroi base. It was clear they were undiscovered.

"This place is a bit bigger than I expected." Kye said. "But that doesn't change the plan. Mio, can you spot the cores in each tower and give us the exact location?"

Mio lifted her eye patch and scanned each tower for their cores. "They are all about one hundred yards from the top in the direct middle of the towers."

Kye pointed at each tower, telling Yoshika, Xala, and Xelia which tower they would be taking. Yoshika took the front right, Xala took the back left, and Xelia took the back right, leaving the front left to herself.

"Xala, Xelia, I assume you have a way to destroy the tower in under five seconds?" Kye asked.

"Easily." Xelia said.

"The Reppuzan should suffice for us." Yoshika said.

"Agreed." Kye said. "Move out. Say when you are in position."

The four tower assailants moved to their respective positions and signaled each other. Kye and Yoshika turned their auras to their maximum and dived into the forcefield, breaking through easily. The four wasted no time launching their powerful attacks at the towers, Yoshika and Rei hitting theirs with powerful Stage Six Aura Empowered Reppuzans and Xelia and Xala hitting theirs with intense energy beams. All four attacks leveled the tower from top to bottom, leaving nothing standing. The forcefield faded into nothing just before many neuroi poured from the base.

"That may have been a little overkill." Rei said.

"It worked." Kye said. "Infiltration team, get ready. The rest of us, cover them as they make their way inside."

The neuroi opened fire at the witches, who returned in kind. In a short time, the sky was filled with beams and bullet trails. The neuroi numbers fell rapidly, but for every one that fell another replaced it soon after. Mio, Xala, Perrine, and Louise made their way to a tunnel like entrance in the base with Minna, Erica, and Trude covering them. Xala immediately took the lead and gestured for the other three to follow.

* * *

In the battle above, the witches had their hands full. Yoko, Minna, and Sanya were constantly giving everyone status updates. The witches were slowly starting to get overwhelmed, even with Kye, Yoshika, and Rei using their higher-powered auras to clear out large numbers quickly.

"Minna, Sanya, they need you in the battle." Yoko said. "I can keep everyone updated myself."

"Are you sure?" Minna asked.

"I'll use my aura to enhance my Area Analysis." Yoko said as her body was engulfed in a dim golden aura. With that, Minna and Sanya joined the battle, each helping a group of witches turn the tide on their targets.

Before long, some of the witches started using ultimates. Lucchini performed a high-speed fly by through a thick group of neuroi, leaving several of her charges in the group. She accumulated over thirty kills in just one fly by.

Lynne was hard at work using her incendiary shots to take out multiple smaller neuroi. She finally pulled out a new round and told everyone to clear the area. She shot her round into a group of neuroi, but her shot did not hit anything. It instead split into hundreds of shards that scattered in every direction. Lynne using the opportunity, and her ultimate ability, detonated each shard, causing several hundred small explosions.

"I just recorded a drop of over one hundred and fifty targets." Yoko reported. "Impressive Miss Lynette."

"Now that was innovative." Trude said, praising Lynne.

"That took a lot of magic, too." Lynne explained. "I can't do that again."

Yoshika flew over to her and twisted around behind her before wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Yoshika?" Lynne said, somewhat confused as to what Yoshika was doing.

"I've been working on a new ability with my aura." Yoshika said. "I haven't tested it out yet, but it should work. I'm going to give you the power of my aura for a few minutes, but I have to hold on to you while I do it."

Lynne only nodded as Yoshika's True Golden Aura covered both girls. Feeling empowered, Lynne shot several more spread shots, one after another, each one destroying over fifty neuroi. She would have destroyed as many with the first shot, but there were fewer targets by the time she continued firing. In just a few seconds, half of the neuroi in the sky were cleared out, giving the witches the well-needed opportunity to turn the tide.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mio and her team were twisting and turning through the tunnels of the base, diving deeper and deeper.

"How big is this place?" Perrine asked.

Mio removed her eye patch for a moment to look for the main core. "The main core is still several kilometers down. This size of this place is unbelievable... heads up!"

Neuroi poured from the side tunnels and chased the team, firing beams down at them, each of which missed or was blocked by their shields.

"I got this." Louise said as she tossed her gun to her left hand and charged lightning in her right. "Tonnerre!" She lit up the entirety of the tunnel above them with lightning, destroying all of their pursuers.

"Incredible." Perrine said. "That was an ultimate level Tonnerre."

"Thanks." Louise said.

As the team made their way further and further into the depths of the base, more and more neuroi flooded out at them. Xala took the stage this time, firing several beams, piercing through their targets and arcing around to hit more. She cleared out their path, and the team kept going.

"We will meet a dead end soon." Xala said. "We will have to turn left for a short way then back down. After that, we will come up to a thick, beam-proof door. On the other side is the main core of this base."

* * *

Back in the battle above the base, the witches seeming victory turned out to be short-lived. While the sheer numbers of the neuroi decreased, the overall power had increased as several stronger neuroi started taking the skies. Single-core super large type neuroi, numbering in the twenties attacked the witches.

"Twenty six Class Seven neuroi have entered the air space." Yoko reported.

The witches prepared to attack, but were waved off by Xelia. "I will handle them. I am what you consider a Class Nine."

Xelia flew out in front of the witches. The blue hexagons riddling her body glowed brightly as she prepared her attack, but instead of attacking, she formed a sword in her right hand. The energy from her glowing blue hexagons coalesced in her sword, causing it to glow, similar to how a sword-wielding witch would charge up a Reppuzan. She swung her sword several times, discharging her neuroi beam version of the Reppuzan in each swing. She effortlessly destroyed every single core type that had appeared on the battlefield.

Shortly after, however, the destroyed neuroi were replaced by another single humanoid type. It spoke to Xelia. "I see you have defected, Xelia. Should I assume that you have joined that renegade, Xala?"

"Xia, why do you still wear red colors?" Xelia aggressively asked. "You know as well as I do that this war is pointless! We need to put a stop to it!"

"It does not matter if this war has a point or not." Xia argued. "Our leader wishes to accomplish that which her predecessor did not."

"The Neuroi Queen's ideals were wrong!" Xelia shot back. "The leader is foolish to want to follow in her footsteps. Why do you support her? You were once one of us! You even traveled to the Orussia Hive together with me and Xala that day we revealed ourselves to the Strike Witches."

"Indeed I did." Xia said. "However, I disagree that our leader is foolish. We neuroi are superior to the humans. Just look how many thousand years it took them to invent technology that allowed them to fly like us! Do you not understand that this technology may one day have the power to wipe us out?! We can barely manage to divert their attempts to destroy us with their nuclear weapons. How are we supposed to defend ourselves in the future if they create a weapon of that caliber that can reach us? This war is more about survival now than domination. We cannot allow the humans to advance their technology further!"

"Is that why you think the leader is worth following?" Xelia argued, clearly getting angrier as they went.

Yoshika floated over to Xelia and confronted Xia. "You don't understand humanity very well if that is what you believe. We don't fight to destroy the neuroi, we fight to defend ourselves."

"That many have been true in the last war, but that is no longer the case." Xia said. "Xelia, why don't you tell your friend, The Prodigal Witch as she is known, what her humanity has done in her absence."

Kye approached Xia to speak instead. "Humanity is not without flaws, but we will not indiscriminately wipe out a race for the hell of it! As long as I am alive, I will not allow my own people to do such a thing."

"You will not allow it?" Xia said. "You've done a good job of now allowing it these last sixty years."

"I'm sorry I can't help what the Queen of the Gods does." Kye said adamantly, surprising almost everyone present. "We were thrown forward into this time period for a reason, a reason I do not yet know but am starting to realize it as time goes on. The world today has grown out of control. This war is a prime example of it. I bet you don't even know the real reason you are fighting this war to begin with."

Suddenly, three figures appeared between Xia and Kye. The witches immediately recognized one as the Goddess Kye Akari.

"That's enough, Kye." The Goddess said. "Don't overstep your mortal knowledge."

"The Goddess Kye Akari, along with the God Zen Akari and Goddess Queen Xera." Kye said. Her tone had grown very aggressive. "You three have a lot of nerve showing up here."

"Watch your mouth, girl." Zen said coldly.

"Watch my mouth?" Kye shot back. "Coming from the one who has corrupted the neuroi into believing they must fight a war against humanity for their own survival?"

"You clearly haven't remembered everything from your distant past, have you?" Zen said. Aside Kye and the three gods, only Yoshika knew what he was referencing.

"I'm working on that." Kye said. "Or if Xera would get off her high horse and remove the block completely, I could speed up the process a bit."

"You should count yourself lucky that you are even getting your old memories back." Xera said. She pointed at the Goddess Kye before continuing. "If it wasn't for her going behind my back, you would still be questioning if there was even a greater purpose to this."

Most of the witches were lost in the conversation, amazed what was happening before them.

"They deserve to know why you threw them into this time period." The Goddess Kye said quietly.

"Do they?" Xera said. "And whose call is it to decide that?"

The Goddess Kye defended herself well. "Does it look like I give a shit whose call it is? What you are doing, the both of you at that, is wrong. The mortals are my domain, but thanks to you I can't even visit them without Zalen hounding me."

"Zalen makes the rules." Xera said.

"You are the one who proposed the rule to him." The Goddess Kye argued. "But that's not the point. If this war progresses the way you expect it to, humanity is going to die. Do you really expect me to sit back and allow that? You only transported the Strike Witches forward in time to spice up the game, but you didn't realize you transported the one person who can change that."

"And who would that be?" Xera asked.

The Goddess Kye pointed at the mortal Kye.

"Her?" Xera said. "What can a single mortal do to save the world?"

The Goddess Kye pulled her sword off her back, sheath and all, and threw it to the mortal Kye, who caught the sword and drew it. The sword reacted to Kye. She placed her hand around its purple silk hilt and drew it from the sheath. To any other person, the sword looked like a standard katana, but Yoshika and Kye knew different. "The real Jouten."

"Do you understand now, Xera?" The Goddess Kye said. She turned back to Kye. "Take Jouten and touch it to the mortal version of itself wielding by Yoshika. This will unlock the Zen Reppuzan for her."

Just as the Goddess Kye had finished her instructions, a fourth god, shrouded in a cloak appeared in front of her.

"You have not only broken a rule by visiting with mortals without Xera's permission, but you have directly increased their power." The God said in an ominous, as if speaking several times at once.

"King Zalen." Xera said as she and Zen bowed to him.

"I stand by my decision." The Goddess Kye said to him.

"Then you will stand by it until one of two things happen." Zalen said. "I am sentencing you to life with your mortal incarnation. You will exist inside her until either she and humanity wins their right to exist or until she dies trying. If she dies, you will die with her." He struck the Goddess Kye in the chest with his palm, launching her toward the mortal Kye. When she collided, her body vanished into nothing.

Kye could sense the Goddess inside her mind.

"My sentencing has been completed." Zalen said. "To avoid this revelation from spreading to any more mortals, I am erasing the events of the last several minutes from the minds of every mortal present, aside from Kye Miyafuji and Yoshika Miyafuji. You two will do well to keep this to yourselves. You two will solely know the reasoning of this war, and will do your best to change its course to one favorable to your kind, without revealing that reason to anyone. Good luck."

Zalen, Xera, and Zen vanished in a bright flash of light. After the light faded, everyone floated around wondering what had just happened. Just as Zalen had said, only Kye and Yoshika retained any memory of the gods' visit.

Knowing what to do, Yoshika immediately confronted Xia again. "If we can stop this war, and if coexistence between humanity and neuroi is promised, will you help bring that to fruition?"

"Please, Xia." Xelia asked. "Join us and help us put an end to this war. The humans are not the threat you believe them to be!"

Xia was conflicted. Her decision did not come easy, but it finally came when the entire neuroi base shattered into white fragments.

Mio, Xala, Perrine, and Louise had destroyed the main core.

"Perhaps you are right." Xia said. "I do often reminisce about the good times, and would like to return to that. I will join you so long as our survival will not be threatened by humans."

"I can promise that." Kye said. "So long as neither the humans nor the neuroi are a threat to one another, there is nothing to worry about. We will bring about this ideal, and we can use all the help we can get."

'Well said.' The Goddess said to Kye from within her mind.

* * *

**A lot of juicy stuff just went down. This is the first major plot point of this story. In case it was confusing, the point of this war is to prove that humanity is worth existing. Xia is not completely wrong in that the neuroi have a genuine threat from the humans. If the war is lost, humanity loses. If the war is won, humanity loses. So how do they actually win in a lose-lose situation? The fate of humanity is on Yoshika and Kye's shoulders. It is up to them to stop the war.**

**Just as a note: The Goddess Kye Akari is now trapped within Kye Miyafuji. She cannot act on her own at this point, and the mortal Kye has no access to the Goddess Kye's power. The mortal Kye has gained the REAL Jouten, which will be touched on alter. The dreamworld's purpose has pretty much been revealed. I will be using it more later on. The Key to stopping the war is there, but what is it?**

**The real Jouten in the hands of a mortal will serve as an equal to the mortal version of Jouten crafted by The Goddess Kye and The Ancestor Yusu, which is currently in Yoshika's possession.**

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**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	11. Liberion Arc: Chapter 11: Conference

**Happy New Year!**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 11: Conference

April 25th, 2012

* * *

Fuso was once again liberated. As a result, a conference was called. The entirety of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the 511th members present for the battle, and the three elite humanoid type neuroi, Xala, Xelia, and Xia, were requested to appear in the conference, which would take place in the Allied Headquarters in Britannia. The conference included all the top brass and several of the higher ranking members of the 511th as well.  
Everyone took their seats around the room as one of the generals behind the main desk stood up.

"Welcome, everyone." The man said. "To those of you who don't know who I am, I am General Ventus of the Liberion Army. Alongside me are the various generals of the militaries around the world, gathered as the Allied Forces. Two days ago, a feat previously thought impossible was accomplished. The neuroi base just outside of Fuso was destroyed by a combined effort of the Fuso Section 511th Joint Fighter Wing, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, and two Class Nine Elite Humanoid Neuroi, whose number increased to three at the end of that battle. We are here today to discuss the power of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing after their recent arrival here in the year 2012."

Kye stood up and took the center of the room. "I will speak on behalf of the 501st."

"Go ahead." General Ventus said as he took his seat.

"I am Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji." Kye said. "I am also known by two other titles, one being the Supreme Commander of the Joint Fighter Wings and the other being a former title I held in the Great Neuroi War in the 1940s, General of the Allied Forces. I rose through the ranks from a young age and participated alongside a few other notable witches in the Fuso Sea Incident of 1937. As the oldest active witch in the world as of both 1952 and 2012, I've seen more war than any one person should. You ask about the power of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, but first I'll talk about the power of the witches of the modern day."

She paused to catch her breath. "Since we arrived here in the year 2012, I have been busy researching the modern military. What I have found has been a mix of both uplifting and disappointment. Technology has advanced significantly since my time, but the power of the witches has decreased. The average witch in the last war was easily better than most witches in the modern day. There are a handful of witches today that are talented, such as the members of the 511th Fuso Section, but for the most part, witches are not very well off."

"That's a very bold claim, General." Ventus said. "Perhaps you could lighten your information with the addition of the 501st. A firsthand experience of the Mother Hive Battle in 1945 would be good."

"It is to my knowledge that a device has been created for recon specialized witches to playback their memory of the mission." Kye said. "Do you have such a device readily available?"

"We have one right here actually." Ventus said as he pulled a small ball shaped device out of a bag he had nearby and handed it to Kye.

"This works by recalling the memory and pouring magic into the device, correct?" Kye asked.

"Yes." Ventus said.

Kye shifted through her memory of the final battle of Operation Worldwide Liberation, then poured magic into the device. A hologram of the area appeared above the device, large enough for everyone in the room to see. The large Mother Hive and the many neuroi the witches battled could be seen. The hologram played through Kye's memory, showing the how each of the eight Joint Fighter Wings battled and liberated their sections. The Neuroi Queen and several other humanoid neuroi finally appeared on the battlefield, which was when Kye charged in with her white aura and True Reppuzan, destroying every humanoid neuroi in her path until she collided with the queen, ultimately ending in Kye being knocked away.

Everyone's eyes, even those of the Strike Witches, widened when the memory of the Pillar of Light played. Ventus was audibly amazed at the power Kye displayed. The Strike Witches heard once again the goodbye message Kye gave to everyone, and shed a tear as she activated the full power of the Pillar of Light, ready to die to save the world. Yoshika's True Golden Aura awakened, allowing her to save Kye. The Ancestor Yusu granted the temporary auras to the Strike Witches still capable of battle, who took out the several humanoid neuroi guarding the queen, allowing Yoshika to hit the queen with the full force of the True Golden Aura and the True Reppuzan.

"This is why Yoshika Miyafuji is known as the Prodigal Witch." Kye said. "What we have called the True Reppuzan turns out to have not actually been the True Reppuzan, but a full powered version of the standard Reppuzan. The correct name of the actual True Reppuzan is called the Zen Reppuzan. To this day, our Ancestor Yusu from five thousand years ago and our own Yoshika Miyafuji are the only two to have ever performed it, and they only were able to do so under great need. Yoshika has performed it twice, once when she destroyed the giant core over Venezia, and the other time just then when she destroyed the queen. I have recently mastered the Light Aura, a previously unknown Stage Six aura."

Kye paused for a few moments before continuing. "Most of the Strike Witches are on the level of Class Eight Neuroi, and not far from Class Nine. Rei Miyafuji and Mio Sakamoto are on par with Class Nine Neuroi, and Yoshika and I at our best are on the level of Class Ten Neuroi."

"This is good news." Ventus said. "How would you rank modern day witches?"

"The members of the 511th Fuso Section are the only witches of the modern day that I've had the opportunity to gage appropriately." Kye said. "I would rank them at Class Seven with great potential to advance. If I had to rank the witches whom I've only read about... four maybe five."

"Is there any way to advance them?" Ventus asked.

"Air Bands are a great invention." Kye said. "But they are babying witches. Put a witch in a reciprocating Strike Unit and you will see significant advancement once they return to an Air Band. The thirteen of us grew up in reciprocating strikers. Major Barkhorn, Lieutenant Hartman, and Captain Marseille were the highest scoring ultra-aces of that war after me, and let me tell you... you would need an entire squadron of modern witches to even think about comparing to them."

"What was their kill counts at the end of the war?" Ventus asked.

Kye turned to Erica and Trude, sitting off to the side. "Around two thousand, wasn't it?" Her comment sparked a high degree of astonishment among everyone in the room outside of the 501st.

"Yeah, but you doubled us." Erica said, even further shocking the people around the room.

"Yeah, but most of my kills came from my sword abilities." Kye said. "I destroyed over fifty neuroi in one attack with my Power Wave once. Anyway, General Ventus, do you get the point?"

"Yes." Ventus said. "The 501st Joint Fighter Wing is a blessing upon the modern world. With this new information, this meeting will adjourn for the time being to allow the generals to discuss what we have learned. You are all free to do as you please for one hour, at which time we will meet again." He pounded his gavel on the table. The room was empty within a minute.

* * *

Kye, Yoshika, and the others gathered outside. While everyone was talking amongst themselves, Yoshika pulled Kye away to talk privately.

"Hey, what's up?" Kye asked.

"We need to talk to them about stopping this war." Yoshika said.

"We can't exactly tell them why." Kye said.

"I know they won't believe the part about the gods, but it is true that this war has no point." Yoshika said.

"I agree." Kye said. "We can't openly suggest something of that magnitude, though. This war is pretty evenly matched right now after we took out the base in Fuso."

"How?" Yoshika asked. "You said yourself that the modern day witches are too weak to fight higher class neuroi. If they had to fight a multi-core type, they wouldn't be able to win."

"This is true, but mankind has technology now that can even the odds." Kye explained. "They have missiles and rockets and such that they can fire from a long range. The neuroi beams can destroy them before they hit their target, but against a large neuroi like that, they will launch multiple attacks. One will eventually hit it."

"We can't rely on technology." Yoshika argued.

"I wish we didn't have to." Kye said. "But for now we have no choice. We can help, of course, until we find a way to end this war peacefully."

"As long as there are people that need protection, I will protect them." Yoshika said.

"What about the neuroi?" Kye asked. "They are living beings, too."

"How can we save both sides?" Yoshika asked.

"I know of one way." Kye said. "It's not exactly an easy method, but now that I have access to my Dream World, I can uncover a spell that can help. You can come with me if you'd like."

"What is it?" Yoshika asked.

"Zen Serenity." Kye said. "It is a spell that calms and soothes the minds of everyone it affects. I don't know how to cast it yet, but I do know that the secret is in the Dream World."

"Have you learned anymore about the Dream World?" Yoshika asked.

"Some." Kye said. "The Dream World can also be called the Land of Memory. My memory, specifically. Everyone has one, but accessing it is typically impossible. It seems that since I mastered the Light Aura, I have gained access. I don't know if the Light Aura is the catalyst or not, but it doesn't matter. If we both can learn the spell, we can bring the leaders of the Allied Forces and the Neuroi together to discuss things. Hopefully."  
Yoshika leaned against the nearby wall and folded her arms. "What about Light and Dark magic? I'm familiar with Light to an extent, but you've only mentioned Dark."

"Alright." Kye said. "Light Magic predates witches. You remember the place where you found me in the Dream World, right?"

"Yeah." Yoshika answered.

"That place is the Kingdom of Light." Kye explained. "It's long gone now, but it existed many thousand years ago. Light and Dark Magic originated from there. In the Dream World, I am the Princess Kye Akari."

"Akari?" Yoshika gasped. "That's the same as..."

"I know." Kye interrupted. "I don't know if there is a connection, and I don't quite understand if that actually is me or if it is some sort of past life, or what, but it is in my memories. In that world, I hold more power than you can imagine. A neuroi appeared the first time I entered the dream world, and it was one of those colossal sized ones like we fought at Tokyo. I was able to fly with magic alone, no striker, no air band, nothing. I was able to use Light and Dark magic with ease. And most notably, I had this with me." She drew the sword with the purple silk hilt. The blade glowed with a silvery aura.

"The Goddess gave that to you before the other one sealed her inside you." Yoshika said.

"Yes." Kye said. "The Jouten you carry is designed after this one. Your Jouten is... basically the mortal version of this one crafted by our Ancestor Yusu and the Goddess."

Yoshika gazed at the sword Kye held. She found it entrancing.

"This is the real Jouten." Kye said. "In the hands of a mortal, it is no more powerful than your Jouten, but in the hands of a god... well it's a force to be reckoned with."

Yoshika continued starring at the sword until Kye sheathed it.

"Anyway, Light and Dark magic originate from the Kingdom of Light." Kye said. "And while in the Dream World, I carry the real Jouten with me. What puzzles me is that the me in the Dream World is named Kye Akari and carries this sword... and I am connected to this ancient Kye by some means... a past life is the only explanation I have for it, although I don't exactly believe in that."

"With the witches, strange things are common." Yoshika said.

"Indeed." Kye said. "I hope to uncover everything about the Dream World soon so we have the answers we need."

"Now what about Zen Magic?" Yoshika asked.

"Zen Magic is the pinnacle of magic power." Kye said. "The Goddess told me that even the gods don't have the ability to use it, but you have performed the Zen Reppuzan twice. The Kami Katto is a Zen Magic technique as well."

"We have powers that even the gods don't?" Yoshika asked, confused.

"It seems so." Kye said. "I doubt we could hold a feather to the gods, but we seem to have an ability they don't."

"After thinking about it..." Yoshika said. "It's probably better that we don't tell Rei or Mio about this yet."

"At least until after we have our answers from the Dream World." Kye added.

"Yeah." Yoshika said. "We should probably rejoin the others before they come looking for us."

"Yes." Kye said. "We can make a trip to the Dream World after we get settled in back at Fuso."

"Alright." Yoshika said as two moved to head back over to the other witches.

* * *

After the hour passed, everyone went back to the meeting and took their seats. The Generals joined them soon after.

General Ventus was the first to speak. "After much consideration, we have decided to keep the 511th Fuso Section and the 501st together. Given what General Miyafuji has said about their potential, we want them to go along with the 501st wherever they go in the war to learn under their predecessors, if that is acceptable for the 501st."

"That is acceptable." Minna answered, beating Kye to the punch. "The 511th Fuso Section has proved to be very friendly and helpful to us since our arrival here in 2012. We can learn much from each other."

"Well said, Minna." Kye whispered, nudging her gently in the arm.

"We have several battlefronts that could use your help." General Ventus said. "Of these fronts, the Liberion front and northeastern European front need the most attention. We will leave it up to you to decide which to go to."

"What do you think?" Minna said quietly to Kye and Mio.

"Up to you." Kye said. She was leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed, almost uninterested in anything. "I picked everywhere last time we did this."

"How dire is each situation?" Mio asked. "Which is in need of help more? Liberion or Europe?"

"They are near even." Ventus replied.

"The 511th Joint Fighter Wing has sections in both areas." Kye said. "Which has the least?"

"Liberion." Ventus answered.

"We will go there then." Minna said.

"I will have a message sent ahead stating that the 501st Joint Fighter Wing will be coming to reinforce the Liberion Battlefront then." Ventus said. "This concludes the meeting. Thank you all for coming on such short notice. We look forward to seeing results in Liberion."

* * *

Soon after the meeting, the witches could be found boarding a plane bound for Liberion.

Trude pounded one hand into another, thinking about defeating the neuroi.

Erica couldn't resist teasing her. "Somebody is happy."

"Hey!" Trude said. "I'm just ready to kick some neuroi butt."

"And you will." Minna said. "We have a lot of battles to win."

* * *

**Kye and Yoshika had a rather serious conversation today. Kye has many suspicions about the Dream World and is determined to find out everything she can about it. What could it be? Only time can tell.**

**We are going to Liberion next!**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.  
**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	12. Chapter 12: Emergency Flight

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 12: Emergency Flight

April 25th, 2012

* * *

The transport plane carrying the witches arrived in Liberion several hours after leaving Britannia. They still had a fair bit to go, however, as they had to fly over neuroi occupied territory. A small group of Liberion witches met the transport to escort them through the neuroi territory.

Around the time they were flying over a destroyed Washington, the witches received a distress call sent out from Fort Knox.

The pilot relayed the call to Kye.

"What's wrong?" Mio asked.

"There's a distress call from Fort Knox." Kye said. "Coincidentally enough, that is very close to our destination. We are still around eight hundred kilometers away, unfortunately. It will take our transport another hour or so to get there."

"What are they doing for reinforcements?" Minna asked.

"I'm thinking on that." Kye said. "The nearest witch squad can't get there in under twenty minutes. Every witch within twenty minutes is already there, and supposedly they number in the hundreds."

"They have that many there and they are calling distress?" Mio said.

"It seems so." Kye said. "I'm going. Shirley, I need to copy your ability."

"Sure." Shirley said. She held her arm out for Kye, who touched it and used her aura to mimic Shirley's speed magic.

"I'm coming, too." Yoshika said.

Shirley waved her arm over to Yoshika, allowing her to copy the speed magic as well.

"We have to really book it." Kye said. "And I mean FAST. White aura with speed magic. Let's go."

Kye opened the rear hatch and jumped out, followed shortly by Yoshika. The two took off toward their destination at a high speed, kicking it into white aura overdrive as soon as they were clear of the plane.

The few witches that could see them take off were in awe.

"How fast are they going?" Eila asked.

Sanya used her antenna to gage their speed. "Roughly five thousand kilometers per hour."

"That's just over Mach 4!" Shirley said.

"Those two are incredible." Mio said.

"Shirley, can I borrow your power, too?" Rei asked.

"Why?" Shirley asked.

Rei grabbed her arm and copied her ability before answered, then jumped out of the plane before the hatch closed and took off after Yoshika and Kye. She also managed to break Mach 4 flight.

"Even Rei?" Lucchini said.

"What are they...? Yusu said, but trailed off.

"That's just how they are." Minna said. "I'm kind of surprised..." She looked behind her just in time to see Mio opening the hatch and jumping out. She, too, blasted off after Kye and Yoshika. "That she hasn't gone yet..."

"They are something else." Louise said.

* * *

Kye slowed down slightly to be even with Yoshika and pointed behind them. They let Mio and Rei catch up, who both were flying at over Mach 4 like they were. Due to the speed they were flying, none of them could talk and hear each other, but Kye motioned for them to follow her.

* * *

On ahead at the destination, Kye and the others were picked up on their radar.

"Major, we have a problem." The radar specialist said to his superior.

"What is it, Sergeant?" Major asked.

"We have four bogeys coming in hot." He said. "And I mean HOT. I'm clocking them at around five thousand kilometers per hour. That's a little over Mach 4."

"What the hell can fly that fast?" The Major asked in a rather demanding tone.

"The hits are tiny, human sized." The Sergeant answered. "They could be humanoid neuroi, but we've never heard of any breaking anything over Mach 2."

"Find out." The Major said.

A nearby witch working on the ground overheard them, walked over, and hovered her hand over the radar. "They are witches. Powerful ones at that."

"Are you sure about that, Lieutenant Wilcke?" The Major asked.

"Positive, Major." Wilcke answered. "I don't know who they are, though."

"Relay this to the witches above." The Major ordered.

"I'm on it." Wilcke said.

* * *

Kye, Yoshika, Rei, and Mio were closing in on the battlefield. They could sense magic in the distance and mentally braced themselves for battle.

* * *

"What?" One witch, seemingly the leader of the battle, said. "We have more witches coming? Alina, I thought you said we couldn't get any reinforcements in under twenty minutes! It's only been ten."

"I know, Ally." Alina Wilcke said. "I don't know who they are, but they are flying at over Mach 4. They'll probably arrive on the battlefield any second now. I can sense them from here. Their Air Band signature is from Fuso."

"You don't think..." Ally said. She stopped short when she had a visual of Kye and the others. "It's them! The 501st!"

Kye, Yoshika, Rei, and Mio dropped down to the blue aura, spread out on the battlefield, and started taking down neuroi.

"Twenty." Kye said.

"Twenty-five." Yoshika said.

"Forty." Mio said.

"Fifty." Rei said.

Kye and Yoshika destroyed several drone neuroi with a spray of bullets whereas Mio and Rei took out a large group of them with one Power Wave each.

"Ally, they just destroyed one hundred and thirty five drones in a matter of seconds." Alina said as she ran out of the radar room and took to the sky. "I'm coming up. I have to see this."

Rei focused magic in her sword before releasing it at a larger neuroi. "Sonic Slash!" Her attack pierced through every neuroi it hit until it reached its five thousand meter limit and dissipated, leaving a wake of neuroi fragments. She fired a few more at larger neuroi, leaving several witches in awe at her performance.

Mio performed just as well with different techniques. She mostly relied on the Reppuzan after exhausting her ammo, but used the occasional Power Wave. She also targeted more large and single core super large types than the others since she could see where to aim for the core with her Magic Eye.

Yoshika held her own very well, too. She used a combination of Reppuzan and Distant Cut techniques to take out her targets.

Kye was the clear MVP in this battle, however. She was using a few techniques that the others hadn't seen before, one of which was very audible.

"What technique is that?" Rei asked.

Kye swung her sword at a large type neuroi and discharged an invisible wave of energy at it. The neuroi shattered into red and black fragments before further shattering into white fragments. "Shockwave Strike. It can be used with any enchanted weapon, not just a katana. It is a super condensed stream of energy launched in a straight shot. It is about a centimeter thick, but due to how compressed it is, it generates extreme gravity within several meters of itself, effectively crushing anything in its wake. It also generates a loud boom sound."

Xala, Xelia, and Xia appeared on the battlefield shortly after Kye hit a few more neuroi with Shockwave Strikes.

"Glad you could make it." Kye said.

"We couldn't get here as fast as you, but we're here." Xala said. "Let's end this battle."

"Everyone stay still for a moment, shield yourself if you have to." Kye said. "I'm going to try a... different technique."

Kye sheathed her sword and formed a ball of magic, black in color.

'Dark magic.' Rei thought to herself. She watched closely as her mother formed the attack.

Kye weaved a sphere of dark magic around her body and clapped her hands together. "Shadow Barrage." She quickly outstretched both of her hands as far as they could reach, left hand to her left and right hand to her right. The instant her arms were in place, the sphere of dark magic shattered, launching an omni-directional attack consisting of around one hundred balls of dark magic. Kye controlled each ball individually, avoiding witches. Each dark magic orb that hit a neuroi instantly disintegrated it into white fragments.

As the battle progressed and the neuroi thinned, Yoshika, Rei, and Mio started showing signs of fatigue. Only Kye seemed to be unphased by the lengthy battle.

The tide of the battle had turned enough for the witch forces gain the advantage, allowing Yoshika, Rei, and Mio to touch down and rest for a moment.

Xala took notes from Kye's Shadow Barrage technique and molded it into her own. She formed a barrier of neuroi energy and fired beams in all directions. Her rendition of the technique wasn't quite as effective, but it still took down a handful of neuroi.

"Nice one." Kye said. She closed her eyes and thought to herself for a moment. 'Xala, Xelia, and Xia just arrived, so they still have a lot of energy left, but Yoshika, Rei, and Mio need a breather. Why don't I feel tired yet? I feel as strong as ever. I couldn't be tapping into the Goddess's power could I?'

'No, you are not.' The Goddess answered from within her mind. 'You are performing on your own power. Incoming!'

Kye opened her eyes just in time to see a katana breaking through her aura. "The hell?" She caught the blade with her left hand, fortifying her hand to withstand the razor sharp blade with her own energy through usage of Energy Projection.

"You did well to block my attack, Kye Miyafuji." The attacker said.

Kye backed off from her assailant and realized it was a witch. "What are you doing? The enemy is there!"

"You are my enemy." She said before attacking again. This time she was blocked by Kye's sword.

"Stop this!" Kye said.

"I'll stop when you are dead." The girl said. A blue aura engulfed her.

"Energy Projection?" Kye said, very surprised. "But how?"

"You and your merry band of sword witches aren't the only ones who can use the auras." She replied.

"Who are you?" Kye demanded.

"My name is Ren." Ren said. "I am a Dark Witch."

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Kye's Shockwave Strike - Usable with any enchanted weapon. Launches a super condensed, very thin stream of energy in a straight line. Extreme gravity is generated within several meters of the stream, crushing anything caught in the wake. Lethal to organic matter, must be used carefully.  
**

**Kye's Shadow Barrage - Dark Magic Technique. The user forms a sphere of energy around self and forces it outward, breaking it into a hundred or more pieces. Each pieces deals a fair amount of damage to whatever target it hits. A skilled user can control the travel path of every single piece.  
**

**Xala's Energy Barrage - Neuroi Technique. Neuroi version of Kye's Shadow Barrage.**

**Energy Projection - Dark Witch Ren  
**

**Third Stage Aura (Blue) - Dark Witch Ren  
**

* * *

**Characters Introduced  
**

**The Major - A Major in the United States of Liberion Airforce who acts at a battle commander at the Louisville Air Nation Guard Base, located a short distance away from Fort Knox.  
**

**The Sergeant - A Sergeant in the USLA who covers radar duty. Also assigned to Louisville.  
**

**First Lieutenant Alina Wilcke II - Granddaughter to Alina Wilcke I (Deceased) and Great Granddaughter to Minna Dietlinde Wilcke. ****Member of the 511th JFW Liberion Sec.**  


**Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus - Granddaughter to General Ventus (Paternal), Granddaughter to Allison Yeager (Maternal), Great Granddaughter of Charlotte E. Yeager (Maternal). Battle Commander of the 511th JFW Liberion Sec.  
**

**Dark Witch Ren - Unknown background.**

* * *

**Alright! New techniques, new characters, and a new faction! Kye and company responded to the distress call from Fort Knox and Louisville (which the battle was THAT big, by the way... those two are 35 miles apart.), and turned the tide. The Shadow Barrage Technique is classified as a Dark Magic technique which falls under Kye's and Rei's standard magic of Light and Dark Magic (two sides of the same coin sort of deal). Shockwave Strike does have a classification, and it is not a standard enchanted katana technique as Kye said. Some of the others who try to learn it will face problems. I will reveal what type of magic the Shockwave Strike falls under later on, as the reason Kye can use that type of magic is a major plot point.  
**

**Also, my release schedule is a little... odd. I've been trying to keep up a weekly release on this, and it seems my updates fall between Tuesday and Thursday. I shoot for the earlier part of that range, but will make great effort to have my chapters out by Thursday.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	13. Chapter 13: The Dark Witch Ren

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 13: The Dark Witch Ren

April 25th, 2012

* * *

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio rejoined Kye in the sky after hearing Ren announce her status as a Dark Witch.

"How can you attack a fellow witch?" Mio asked in a demanding tone.

Ren laughed at Mio's remark. "You really didn't think all witches were goodies did you? If you know what's good for you, the three of you will stay out of this. I'm only interested in your esteemed leader."

"You are making a bad choice, Ren." Kye said. "Picking a fight with me isn't exactly a good idea. Back off now before you get hurt."

"You sound as if you can defeat me." Ren said.

"So be it." Kye said. "If you want to find out, come at me."

"What?" Yoshika said. "You can't fight her!"

"I have no choice." Kye said. "Ren, before we fight, I have a question for you. How powerful do you believe me to be?"

"I've studied your abilities." Ren said. "I can compete with your white aura."

"I see." Kye said. "Yoshika, show her your sixth aura."

"I know about her True Golden Aura as well." Ren said. "I can't fight that, but you don't have such a power."

Yoshika reluctantly activated her True Golden Aura, but was only able to maintain it for a few seconds, as she had already depleted a lot of her magic power.

"What about it?" Ren said.

Kye didn't answer her, but activated her white aura. Ren followed suit, surprising everyone but Kye.

After a few moments of starring each other down, Kye and Ren charged forward at each other.

'I don't like this.' The Goddess said to Kye from within her mind while the latter fought. 'But you can't let her kill you either.'

'I'm going to try to knock her out somehow.' Kye replied to her. 'I don't like the idea of killing or even hurting a witch. I don't want to use the Light Aura or Dark Aura if I can get away with it.'

'You may have to.' The Goddess said. 'Perhaps if you use the Dark Aura and show her the Blade of Oblivion, she might back off.'

"Reppuzan!" Ren said as she launched a powerful Reppuzan attack at Kye, who blocked the attack with only her left hand. 'She's more powerful than we anticipated, but no matter. I will win.'

"What do you stand for as a Dark Witch?" Kye asked sternly.

"You don't need to know." Ren answered. She fired a series of Reppuzans at Kye, who merely stood her ground and blocked every single one.

"She's fighting defensively, but she's not putting much effort into it." Rei said.

"She doesn't want to hurt the girl." Mio said.

"This is pointless." Kye said. "Sheath your sword and end this now. I'm not going to give you another chance."

"As if." Ren said, brushing Kye's mercy aside.

"Then I'll stop holding back." Kye said as she activated her Light Aura and allowed the entirety of her magic to flow. The air around her grew heavy, almost too much for the others to maintain flight. "You have no chance against me, girl." She formed a ball of light in her hand and poured a tremendous amount of magic into it.

"That is the Light Nova." Rei said. "Mom, you'll kill her if you use that."

Kye pointed the ball at Ren, who had grown nervous in front of Kye's display of power. Instead of launching the attack at Ren, Kye fired the ball upwards, high into the sky, where it harmlessly exploded. The explosion of light was so enormous it eclipsed the sun. The resulting shockwave shook the air and ground around them for several kilometers.

"I'm not afraid of you." Ren said as she prepared to attack.

"You wish to see fear..." Kye said. Her Light Aura faded back to the white aura. She maintained the white aura for a few moments before it turned pitch black.

"The black aura." Yoshika said. "What is she doing?

Shortly after activating the black aura, Kye added dark magic into the aura, and pushed it to the sixth stage as well, forming the Dark Aura. It was as black as the previous version, but was somewhat transparent, similar to how the Light Aura is a light transparent yellow color.

Kye charged forward so fast that Ren couldn't react and knocked her backward.

"Blade of Oblivion." Kye said quietly as she launched the dark attack at Ren, who turned and flew to out run the speeding wave of dark magic. It slowly gained ground on her.

"What are you doing!?" Mio yelled.

"Watch." Kye said calmly. She teleported to Ren and switch to the Light Aura instantaneously before launching a different attack at the wave of dark magic. "Kami Katto."

The Blade of Oblivion and Kami Katto clashed violently shaking everything around them.

Kye turned to Ren. "Do you understand now? I don't want to hurt you. I want to know why you are out to kill me."

"You'll have to wait to find out what my interests are." Ren said. "You are indeed powerful, but it seems that you have yet to regain your full power, Princess Akari."

"What!?" Kye said. She was briefly shaken by what Ren had said.

Ren smirked before turning and flying off.

'So it's true...' Kye thought to herself before turning to the other witches. She deactivated her aura as she flew closer to them. Only the three of them, Mio, Rei, and Yoshika, heard what Ren had said.

Mio gave Kye a look that could pierce through a mountain. She wanted answers.

"Hold on." Kye said as she turned off her intercoms and gestured for them to do the same.

"Kye, she called you Princess Akari." Yoshika said.

"Yes." Kye said. "It seems my suspicion about that is true. I need to progress through the Dream World now more than ever. I need more answers."

"What is the Dream World?" Rei asked.

"Everyone has one, but you cannot always access it." Kye said. "It is a place where you can visit your memories and dreams and experience them as if they were real."

"Why do you need to visit your Dream World then?" Mio asked. "We know your past."

"Not quite." Kye said. "We know my past from 1917 to 2012, but not the past before that."

"You weren't born until 1917!" Mio said. "How can you have a past before that?"

"It's complicated." Kye said. "I still don't know everything, but my Dream World does not consist of my past as Kye Miyafuji, but as that of Princess Kye Akari of the Kingdom of Light that existed over ten thousand years ago. We need to talk about something that happened recently. It's important, and I need you to have an open mind, both of you."

"Both?" Rei said. "What about Yoshika?"

"She already knows." Kye said before explaining the details about her trips into the Dream World. She went on to explain what happened when they attacked the Neuroi Base in Fuso, how the gods appeared and talked to everyone, and how Zalen sealed the goddess inside Kye.

"Does that mean you have access to the Goddess's power?" Rei asked.

"No." Kye said. "I can talk to her freely, but I can't use any of her abilities."

"How soon will you go back into the Dream World?" Mio asked.

"Tonight." Kye said. "I want all of you to come with me if you have any interest."

"I'm in." Mio said.

Rei and Yoshika nodded.

"Everything that I just told you needs to stay a secret." Kye said. "That includes what that Dark Witch called me. As for the Dark Witch herself, we'll talk about that when the others arrive."

"For now, we should land and talk with whoever is in charge." Mio suggested.

"Agreed." Kye said as she reached for her intercom. "Turn your intercoms back on."

After the witches turned the intercom back on, they were bombarded by questions from the witches and soldiers in the general vicinity.

"Everyone shut up." Ally said before flying up to Kye and the others and offered her hand. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus, Ally for short. I'm the Battle Commander of the 511th Joint Fighter Wing, Liberion Section."

"Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji." Kye said as she shook Ally's hand.

"Brigadier General Mio Sakamoto." Mio said, also shaking Ally's hand.

"Second Lieutenant Rei Miyafuji." Rei said.

"First Lieutenant Yoshika Miyafuji." Yoshika said.

"I'm thankful that you were able to help us today, and I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say this... you have some impressive abilities." Ally said.

"Thank you." Kye said. "I'd like to return the compliment, but I don't actually know what anyone here is capable of yet."

"My ability isn't as flashy as yours." Ally said. "I inherited my ability from my mother, who got her ability from my grandmother, who got her ability from my great grandmother, who you already know."

"Is that so?" Mio asked. "Who is it?"

"Captain Charlotte E. Yeager." Ally said. "Speed Magic seems to run in the family."

"You're Shirley's great granddaughter?" Kye said. "Wasn't her daughter also named Allison?"

"Yes." Ally said. "I'm named after my grandma. Most of us are."

"Us?" Rei asked.

"Alina, Linda, Bell, Lucy, all but Kaylie, Layla, Mei, and Yoko." Ally said. "Anyway, I'm heading back down to the ground to talk to the others, care to join me?"

"Yes." Kye said as she, Mio, Rei, and Yoshika followed Ally to the base below.

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

Light Nova - Kye**  
**

Blade of Oblivion - Kye only (Reintroduced, last used in the Orussia Hive Battle in Operation Worldwide Liberation)

Light Aura (Unrestricted) - Kye Only

Dark Aura - Kye Only

Dark Aura (Unrestricted) - Kye Only

* * *

**The rest of the witches flying in on the plane will arrive in the next chapter. We will be going back into the Dream World afterward.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	14. Chapter 14: Dreaming Again

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 14: Dreaming Again

April 25th, 2012

* * *

The witches ended up staying at the Louisville Base instead of going to Fort Knox. Fort Knox suffered too much damage from the neuroi attack. Most of who were there are relocating to the Louisville Airbase as well.

By the time everyone was settled, night had fallen. The witches had to bunk with each other, in groups of three to four, but that was no problem. Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine took one room. Kye, Rei, and Mio took another. Minna, Erica, and Trude took the third. Lucchini, Shirley, Sanya, and Eila took the fourth. Yusu, Kaylie, and Layla took the fifth. And Louise, Yoko, and Mei took the sixth.

* * *

After the others fell asleep, Yoshika snuck out to go meet Kye, Rei, and Mio in their rooms.

"Yoshika has done this with me before, but Rei and Mio, I have a couple warnings before we proceed." Kye said. "The trip to the Dream World will not hurt, but it will feel... odd. It's hard to describe. Your powers and abilities will be intact, but you will notice that your Air Bands will not transfer with you. Your swords will remain, as will mine, although I will have only one after the transfer. Your clothing will be different as well, as for what it will actually be... you'll see when you get there."

"Sounds fun." Rei said.

"There are two important things to know while we are there." Kye said. "If we happen to come across any... enemies, whatever they may be, you will notice quickly that my own abilities will be different, to say the least. Yoshika has yet to see my Dream World powers, and I hope it stays that way, but you never know, so I wanted to put that out there. The other important thing is you must obey me while there. Stay near me at all times and do not argue with me, at all. In the Dream World, my identity is that of the Crown Princess Kye Akari of the Kingdom of Light. I'd rather not have to beat up any overreacting guards."

"I see." Mio said.

"If you are ready, join hands." Kye said as she sat down on the floor, followed immediately by the other three. After everyone had joined hands, Kye counted down. "Dream World sync in three... two... one..."

Their vision was overcome by a flash of light. After the light faded, they found themselves in Kye's room in the castle.

* * *

Eila's vision was somewhat cloudy, but she knew one of the two figures standing in front of her. It was Kye, but she didn't look the same. Her hair wasn't in the usual ponytail; it was just sprawled out every which way, unstyled. She wasn't wearing her usual Fuso Nava Officer's Uniform either, but a purple and black kimono with shortened arms and legs and a black sash. She had a single sword, the sheath held at her left side by her sash and the sword itself, with a purple silk hilt, held in her hand. She had an aura active, but Eila didn't recognize it. This aura was silver colored. Her eyes were the most notable feature, however.

Kye's normal, relaxed silver eyes had a dark look about them. She wasn't angry, she wasn't upset, she wasn't herself.

"I'm tired of the games." Kye said to the other figure. Eila couldn't make him out as he was shrouded. "It's time to end this."

"Is that so?" The shrouded man responded. "Let's just see you try, girl."

"You're a fool." Kye said as she charged in toward the shrouded man.

Eila couldn't make out anything else they said. Her hearing deafened and her vision grew more clouded until it was gone. She woke up with wide eyes. 'What was that?'

She rolled her covers off and floated up out of bed, wearing her Air Bands and her usual bed garments. She left her room and lazily floated down the hallway until she found the lounge.

'I haven't had a vision like that in years.' Eila said to herself as she pulled a cup out of the cabinet and whispered to herself. 'Maybe some water will help.'

After drinking a full cup of water, Eila wondered around for a bit before making her way outside. 'I'll probably be on night patrol with Sanya again soon.' She looked up at the roof after her foresight ability allowed her to see that somebody was about to call her name.

"Eila?" A familiar soft voice called quietly to her. It belonged to Sanya, who was sitting on the edge of the roof.

Eila floated up to the rooftop and sat down beside Sanya. "Hey."

The two sat in silence for several minutes, leaning on each other. Somehow, just being together comforted them. Their company was soothing.

"I miss them, Sanya." Eila said. "I know it's only been a few weeks for us, but I miss them."

Sanya immediately understood what Eila was saying. She also missed her daughter, and was sure the other witches were feeling the same way.

"We don't even know if they are alive." Eila said. "But Ayame was in her sixties. I'm sure Aina and Anna are, too."

A few tears rolled down both of their faces as they remember their young daughters' faces.

"I can't help but wonder what all of this is really about." Eila continued. "What is so important that one of the gods had to transport us through time just to be here? I know you are wondering this, too."

"Yes." Sanya muttered.

"It can't be just for a neuroi war." Eila said. "We could have grown old and just trained witches to handle it. No, I think there's something more."

She paused and sat silently for a few minutes before continuing, this time her voice much softer, but at the same time more serious. "I had a vision. A real vision."

Sanya's eyes widened and what little attention that wasn't already focused on Eila suddenly switched over to her.

"Kye was there this time, too." Eila said. "She was different, though." Eila explained the details of the vision, making an emphasis on Kye's appearance, especially the eyes.

"I've never known Kye to have such an expression." Sanya said. "Regardless of her mood, her eyes are always calm. To think she could have such a dark look in her eyes."

"I don't know what it means." Eila said. "I think I need to confront her about it."

"I don't know if that would be the best thing." Sanya said. "But at the same time, I don't think there's anything else to do about it, aside staying silent."

"I don't know." Eila said.

The two girls sat together for a while, just gazing out at the night sky. Sanya was leaning her head on Eila's shoulder most of the time, but suddenly, she moved her head and turned her eyes to Eila. This caught Eila's attention, so she also met Sanya's eyes. Their gazes were locked for a few moments before they leaned in to kiss.

"I love you." They said together. After a while, they jumped off the roof and headed back to bed.

* * *

Mio and Rei looked around the somewhat large room. The group arrived in Kye's room in the castle upon traveling to the Dream World. They were surprised to see how decorated the room was.

"Wow." Rei said.

"Look at your clothing." Kye said. "You'll notice that it's... different."

The two of them held out their arms and took a look at their attire. Rei was now wearing a light yellow kimono with yellow daffodil flower embroideries, and Mio was wearing a medium dark red kimono with red tulip flower embroideries.

The two looked up to see what Kye and Yoshika were wearing. Kye was wearing the same purple kimono with purple rose embroideries outlined in black as before, and Yoshika was wearing a light blue kimono with light blue Delphinium flower embroideries.

Their kimonos matched the color of the silk on their sword hilts. Rei's Tenraimaru and its twin had a yellow silk hilt, Yoshika's mortal Jouten and Tenshimaru had a light blue silk hilt, and Mio's Reppumaru and its twin had a red silk hilt. Kye's original Jouten had a dark purple silk hilt.

"Odd." Kye said, having noticed something out of place.

"What?" Yoshika asked curiously.

"The three of you have two swords each this time." Kye said. "Last time, the two of us only had one each."

"Oh, I do have both." Yoshika said after realizing the number of swords on her back. "And your eyes are a different color. They were your normal brown last time, now they are silver."

"Something changes every time." Kye said, brushing it off as she headed toward the door. "No matter. Let's go."

The group followed her out of the door and started walking down the hallway to the left.

"What are we doing this time?" Yoshika asked.

"Well, first thing is first." Kye said. "We need to check on the king. We don't have to talk to him; I just want to see what he's doing before we go to the royal library."

"What are we looking for in the library?" Mio asked.

"Not sure yet." Kye responded simply.

After they found King Akari in the throne room tending to his people, the group headed straight to the library.

When they entered the library, everyone noticed a girl sitting at a small table next to a window reading a book. She had knee length white hair, silver eyes like Kye, a single sword on her back with white silk, and a body almost identical to Kye's in size covered by a white kimono with white rose embroideries.

"Who's that?" Yoshika whispered to Kye.

"Don't know." Kye replied. She did seem familiar. "Just leave her be, she's reading."

Kye handed the girls a list of books and told them which ones to retrieve. After they gathered the books at a large table, Kye opened the first and started looking for relevant information. After checking the appropriate chapters of each book, they came up with nothing.

"Damn." Kye said. "Nothing as usual."

"What are we looking for exactly?" Mio asked.

"Information on the queen." Kye said. "I haven't seen her at all since the Dream World opened to me."

"Why don't you just ask father?" The grouped was startled by the white haired girl. She had walked over without any of them noticing.

"If your father knows anything, I'd like to visit him." Kye said. "Who is he?"

"You're silly today, Kye." The girl giggled. "You know who he is."

"I don't." Kye said. "Tell me, please."

The girl face palmed with a sigh. "What did you do to yourself? You really have lost your memories."

"How do you..." Kye started to ask, but was cut off.

"Because we grew up together." The girl said. "I've been around you for your whole life, after all."

"How much about me do you know?" Kye asked. "I need to know."

"I'm not telling you anything unless you tell me what my name is." She said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." Kye replied.

"That hurts." The girl said. "We were inseparable as kids and you don't even remember me." The girl turned and started heading for the door. "Come find me when you remember my name."

Kye jumped up from her chair and ran after the girl. She caught up to her in the hallway outside of the library. "Wait! Please tell me who you are!"

"Telling you who I am would be pointless if you don't remember yourself." The girl said. "I would just be a person with a name." She never turned around as she spoke, she simply kept walking.

"Fine then." Kye said. "Duel me then."

The girl stopped, but still did not turn around.

"Are you sure about that?" She said.

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio caught up to them just in time to hear about the duel.

"If I win, you tell me who you are." Kye said.

"What if I win?" She asked mischievously.

"What do you want?" Kye shot back.

"I'm pretty sure I'll get what I want either way." She replied calmly. "Meet me fifty kilometers to the east of the city."

"Why outside of the city?" Kye asked.

"Do you want to destroy the place?" She replied. "I'd rather not." She turned around, showing the smile on her face. "You might want to change into your battle outfit. See you soon." She vanished.

"Wow." Rei said.

"This won't be easy." Kye said.

* * *

Kye went back to her room and changed into her battle outfit. It consisted of a black, skintight suit with no sleeves and legs that extended only a few inches down her leg. Over that, she wore a mostly purple kimono with small black borders around the edges, sleeves shortened to only a couple inches from the shoulder, and legs that reached only a few inches below the tight leggings, but still a few inches above the knees, and a black sash tied around her waist. She tied her long hair into a ponytail before strapping Jouten to her back.

* * *

After changing, Kye and the others went to meet the mystery white haired girl. When they arrived, they found the girl standing alone in the middle of a barren rocky area. The city was barely visible in the distance from the air.

The girl was wearing an outfit identical to Kye's in all but color. Her battle outfit was white and silver instead.

The mystery girl drew her sword from her back and stood at the ready. Kye drew her sword as well and approached her opponent.

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio watched as the two met gazes. For what seemed like hours, the two stared each other down.

Finally, the two moved. Rushing in toward each other, they clashed. Everyone could feel the power generated by their attacks. It shook them to their very core.

The mystery girl raised her sword in a slash from down to up, blocked only by Kye's sword, who then pushed her sword up quickly to knock the other girl off balance. Kye intended to get a strike in, but was completely dodged. The girl had teleported behind Kye and attempted to hit her in the back.

Kye blocked the attack and teleported rapidly around the girl, attempting to land a blow each time. Kye moved so fast from each teleport that it seemed as though she left illusions of herself.

The girl countered with a high speed spinning technique and parried every single attack. For a split second, it looked as if she had a dozen swords instead of just one.

After the exchange of blows, the two backed off from each other. Their onlookers were in awe at the techniques they just witnessed.

"How is it that you know Genken?" Kye asked. "That was the Hinerigen that you used to counter my Gensuto."

The girl laughed before answering. "How I know Genken, you ask." She pointed at Kye. "It seems I'm going to have to beat your memory back into you." She vanished.

The girl ran in a circle around Kye at such a speed, that she left afterimages. As she ran, she fired five blasts of energy from her sword, similar to the Reppuzan.

The last was fired within a split second of the first, making it seem as though all five were simultaneous attacks. Kye responded with a similar attack, but spun in place instead of running in a circle. She met the five blasts with five of her own.

"You met my Genataru first stance with the Genataru second stance." The girl said. "I'm surprised you remember Genkenjutsu at all, seeing how you don't remember the person who helped you develop it."

"Genken no Kami Hikari-ryu." Kye said. "I remember somebody helping me with it, but I don't remember who. If you tell me your name, that might help me remember!"

"If you want to know so badly, you have two ways to find out." The girl shot back. "Remember it on your own or defeat me and I'll tell you." She pulled her sheath from her back and placed her sword inside, then held her sword at the drawing position on her left side.

"Battojutsu." Kye said as she removed her own sheath. "If you know Genken no Kami Hikari-ryu, then you must also know Batto no Kami Hikari-ryu."

The girl did not respond with words, but with her sword. She drew her blade at an astounding speed while simultaneously launching a wave of energy, reinforced by the momentum of the draw. She didn't stop there, however. She continued with a spin, with energy building up in her sword as she spun, and launched another attack after spinning in a complete circle. The first wave was diagonal from low left to high right, and the second was diagonal from high left to low right. The second wave moved much faster than the first, as it had the momentum of the draw and the momentum of the spin. It caught up to the first and merged into an x-shape.

Kye responded by quickly sheathing her sword, but held it on her right side. She infused energy not into her sword, but into her sheath as she drew the sheath from the sword in a stabbing manor. The closed tip of the sheath rammed the x-shaped energy wave and shattered it.

"Senkou no Batto and Jiten no Batto." Kye said. "Impressive."

"You countered well with the Atemi no Saya." The girl said. "Bring any memories back."

"I'm afraid not." Kye said.

"Then I'll end this with one final attack." The girl said as she sheathed her sword again. She crouched down slightly as in ready to jump.

"I recognize that stance." Kye said as she did the same.

"Senkou Suto!" They said together.

All in a near instantaneous move, the two jumped forward while drawing their swords and pouring energy into their draws. Dust and dirt was blown up from the shockwave generated by their clash.

As the dust cleared, their onlookers immediately noticed that both had traded places, each crouched slightly from their landing. Both of them were in the same position with their left foot out front and their swords held high in the air, as usual result of a draw cut.

Neither had any cuts or bruises.

"Draw." Kye said.

"We're evenly matched." The girl said.

"Did you get what you wanted out of the fight?" Kye asked.

"I'm about to, but first, you must know something." She said. She turned to the other three. "I know of your identities. Not your Dream World identities, but your real world identities, Yoshika Miyafuji, Rei Miyafuji, and Mio Sakamoto." She earned a shocked expression from each of them.

She turned back to Kye. "And I know of yours as well, Kye Miyafuji."

"How?" Kye asked. A mix of curiosity and anxiety were on her face, but also a hint of worry.

"Just like you, I have a past that can be visited in the Dream World." The girl said. "We happen to share a past. Your past is that of Crown Princess Kye Akari, and mine is of her younger sister of two years, Princess Yami Akari. Although, unlike you, I never lost my memory."

A realization dawned on Kye's face as many of her memories suddenly came rushing back to her. She fell to her knees with her hands on her head as if she was in pain.

Yoshika, Rei, and Mio immediately ran over to her.

"Mom!" Rei said as she crouched down to her.

"You three... have to go." Kye said. "Now!" She waved her hand at the three, leaving a silver glow around the three. In mere moments, they vanished, having been sent out of the Dream World, back to reality.

"It's about time." Yami said as she approached Kye. Her voice softened as she spoke. "Your memories are flooding back, sister. I hope your friends can keep your body safe this is done. I'll guard your spirit here."

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

Yami Akari

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

Gensuto (Illusion Strike) - Kye  
Hinerigen (Twisting Illusion) - Yami  
Genataru (Illusion Lash) First Stance - Yami  
Genataru (Illusion Lash) Second Stance - Kye  
Senkou no Batto (Flash of the Drawn Sword) - Yami  
Jiten no Batto (Spin of the Drawn Sword) - Yami  
Atemi no Saya (Blow of the Sheath) - Kye  
Senkou Suto (Flash Strike) - Kye and Yami

Note - the names are the person who used the technique in this chapter. Both Kye and Yami know all of the techniques.

* * *

Kami Hikari-ryu - The Divine Light Style

The Divine Light Style is a martial arts style that was developed by the original Kye Akari from the original story. I have recently started using it in my fanfiction works. The Divine Light Style uses a variety of hand to hand combat techniques, sword techniques (although some techniques can be used with other weapons as well), and energy techniques (including energy discharge techniques such as the Light Wave or energy projection techniques that enhance the physical techniques of the style). Of the various techniques, there are subsets of sword techniques. Most sword techniques fall under one or both, but there are a few that are neither. Two of these subsets are Genkenjutsu (Illusion Sword Techniques) and Battojutsu (Sword Drawing Techniques). The category that combines both aspects is Genbatto-Jutsu (Illusion Drawing Techniques).

Genken no Kami Hikari-ryu (Illusion Sword of the Divine Light Style) - techniques in this category are advanced techniques performed at such a speed that they seemingly generate optical illusions.

Batto no Kami Hikari-ryu (Sword Drawing of the Divine Light Style) - techniques in this category are augmented draw cuts. They always start with a sheathed sword. Some are single step attacks, some are two step attacks.

Genbatto no Kami HIkari-ryu (Illusion Sword Drawing of the Divine Light Style) - there is one technique (thus far) that falls under both categories, and that is the extremely advanced Senkou Suto (Flash Strike).

* * *

**I spent several hours coming up with the names for the techniques and styles introduced in this chapter. Although these techniques and styles have existed for awhile now, most of them did not have names. How do you guys like the names? Translations are sometimes difficult and may not always be correct, but correct or not, that's what they will be called and translated as. There have been incorrect translations in the past that have been accepted.  
**

**Kye's past memories are coming back after her battle with Yami. Yami, by the way, is a character from my original story as well, and is Kye's younger sister there as well. Yami also appears as Kye's younger sister in another of my fanfiction stories (The Legend of Light, which is a Legend of Korra fic).  
**

**We also saw a little Sanya/Eila love, which I felt was way overdue. You may wonder something like "how do they have daughters, but still be lesbian" and well that is simple. They each had one night stands between the end of 1945 and 1950, resulting in a pregnancy for each of them. While their daughters, Anna and Aina are not related by blood, they are considered sisters as their mothers are together. Yes, I said it, Sanya and Eila are a thing in this story AND they both have daughters. How about that?**

******The person Kye confronts in Eila's vision IS NOT the same person (Yami) she met and dueled in the Dream World.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	15. Chapter 15: Trapped

**A/N: Might be having storms this week, so I'm updating early. The storms won't be serious, but the wind might knock the power out, so I wanted to put this up before then. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 15: Trapped

May 2nd, 2012

* * *

"Will she ever wake up?" Minna asked.

Kye had been in a comatose state for a week. Only Yoshika, Rei, and Mio had a clue about what happened, but they felt it best to stay quiet about a secret that wasn't theirs to tell.

Although she knew it wouldn't help, Yoshika continued to heal Kye every few hours. "I don't know."

"You have to keep trying!" Kaylie said. She and Layla were sitting nearby with tears in their eyes.

Rei tried to stay away as much as possible, but found it too hard. Even when she did stay in the room with her mother, she always leaned against the far wall.

* * *

"Rei has shown considerable power in missions since Kye has been in that coma." Trude said. "She has always been strong, but has not always had the motivation to use her power."

"She is giving even Yoshika a run for her money." Mio said. "But I'm afraid what drives her is her mother's absence."

"Yes." Minna said. "It seems she doesn't want to let Kye's absence have an effect on our overall power, and it going to an extreme to improve herself to make up for it until Kye wakes up."

Yoshika walked in just in time to overhear them.

"Yoshika?" Mio said.

"Her eyes are different." Yoshika said. "Ever since Kye fell into her coma, Rei has had a dark look in her eyes. She has something on her mind that's troubling her.

"I think we should ground her temporarily." Trude suggested. "We don't need such a talented witch in that state of mind out on the battlefield."

* * *

"What?" Rei said. "You can't be serious."

Minna, Mio, and Trude confronted Rei after deciding to take her off the roster temporarily.

"I'm afraid I am, Rei." Minna said. "You are barred from combat for the time being."

"You can't..." Rei argued. "You need me!"

"You are unfit to fight as you are now." Trude said. "We cannot allow you to go on any missions like this."

"My mom wouldn't have any of this." Rei said. "You can't ground..." She was cut off by a slap to her face, delivered by Mio.

"THAT'S ENOUGH." Mio said. "Your mother would be pissed off if she knew the way you were acting. You have performed well on the battlefield in her absence, but you are fighting with a dark heart. This is not optional, this is an order. You will remain grounded until further notice. You may train, but you may not participate in battle."

Rei was speechless and her expression did nothing to hide it. She merely turned and started to walk away from her three superiors.

* * *

Kye was fighting a hard battle. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't return to the real world. She was still in the same spot outside of the city in the Dream World.

"Why can't I go back!" She yelled into the sky.

Yami appeared next to her. "Still stuck in the Dream World I see."

"I regained my memories, but what good can they do me if I can't go back to the real world." Kye said. "I have to find a way out of here!"

"I wish I could help you." Yami said. "But I only know how to force those out of a Dream World in which they have no past, but with you being locked in here, I'm not sure that that would even work if you didn't expel those three when you did."

"How long has it been?" Kye asked.

"A week." Yami said. "I'm almost to the point where I want to go find you in the real world. I might be able to help you get out if I try from the outside, but then again, it probably won't work."

"Mio, Yoshika, and Rei would recognize you, and I'm not sure if that would be a good idea." Kye said. "The others would get overly suspicious."

"That is what's stopping me." Yami said.

Kye looked at the sky as several things flashed through her mind. "Zalen sealed the Goddess Kye inside me."

"That I know." Yami said.

"I've been able to talk to her ever since." Kye said. "But since I recovered my memories here, I haven't heard her voice. I've tried to talk to her, but I don't hear anything in response. I don't even sense her presence in my mind. I've been able to talk to her in the Dream World before, so I don't know."

"Maybe it is a Dream World thing." Yami said. "Now that you remember everything about this world, maybe you cannot speak to her. Perhaps it will return to normal once you escape the Dream World."

"What if I still cannot reach her?" Kye asked.

"Then we will need to meet in the real world." Yami said.

"Where can I find you if that happens?" Kye asked.

"You are famous in the real world." Yami said. "I'll find you."

"Fair enough." Kye said. "Just make sure you stay above the clouds when you get my attention."

"Alright." Yami said. "I'll return tonight to check on you. Stay in this area or in your bedroom in the castle if you will still be in the Dream World. If not, then send an email to the address I gave you before. Do you still remember it?"

"Yes." Kye said. "We'll have to be discrete about the messages, however. I'll be on a military computer, so I highly doubt anything will be private."

"I'm sure we'll be able to understand each other without saying much." Yami said. "I'm heading back to the real world. If we have to meet there, I'll meet you above your base at midnight or specify a time through email. See or talk to you soon."

"Yeah." Kye said as Yami phased out the Dream World.

* * *

The Air Raid siren sounded across the base. Every able witch and pilot scrambled, all but Rei. Due to her grounding, she stayed behind by her mother's side.

Minna led the counteroffensive against the attackers. Everyone poured out of the hangar. Minna and Mio split up the witches in teams of two and three, Minna with Mio, Erica with Trude, Lucchini with Shirley, Yoshika with Perrine and Lynne, Yusu with Kaylie and Layla, and Louise with Yoko and Mei. Lieutenant Alina Wilcke paired up with Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus.

The other members of the 511th Liberion Sec, as well as Sanya and Eila, were all sleeping from night patrol. Yoshika took it up upon herself to guard the base to protect the sleeping witches, though as the battle progressed, some of them did wake up and join the fight.

Rei sat by her mother's bed, focusing on the battle above. She was using the basic golden aura to sense the flow of magic within a short distance of herself, enough that she could erect a shield to protect her and her mother if a stray neuroi beam were to land on or near them.

The sheer number of neuroi was incredible. Minna counted several hundred medium size neuroi, over one hundred large size, around forty super large sizes of varying types, and a handful of humanoid neuroi with power comparable to the more powerful super large neuroi.

With there being so many neuroi, the fighter jets that had taken to the air were quickly ordered to land. With Yoshika using her ability to generate multiple shields, the ground forces were in safe hands.

Trude and Erica took the lead in the fight. Erica, using her Sturm, barreled through neuroi with Trude following behind clearing up anything that happened to survive. After running out of ammo, Trude discarded her guns and resorted to using her hand to hand techniques.

"Here goes!" Trude said as she charged in toward a large type neuroi and punched it with all her might. The force of her blow shattered the neuroi into several black pieces, which turned white and fragmented further shortly after as the core did not survive.

Shirley and Lucchini were nearby, taking out their own share of the neuroi. Shirley kept spinning Lucchini in a circle before tossing her at a high speed. She left explosive charges with every neuroi in her path.

Lucchini had advanced her Explosion Strike, however. When each explosive charge detonated, the destruction didn't stop there. The explosive charges fragmented from the destroyed neuroi and spread to more nearby targets, allowing her to destroy even more neuroi with a single pass. As if that wasn't enough, the fragmentation charges also split up into more charges. As advanced as Lucchini had developed her Explosion Strike, two bonus fragmentations were the limit as she couldn't put enough magic power into each initial charge to sustain three splits yet.

"Hey, Lucchini! Have you come up with a name for that yet?" Shirley hollered at her while weaving through neuroi.

"Uh, not really." Lucchini said. "How about Blow Everything Up Attack?"

Shirley sighed as she continued shooting down any neuroi in her path.

"Hey!" Lucchini said. She wanted to know Shirley's opinion so badly that her excitement could not be hidden. "Well what do you think?"

Shirley couldn't help but smile at her silly Romagnan friend. "I think it's pretty cool!"

"Incoming multicore!" Mio said.

"Dibs!" Lucchini called as she sped toward the target. The neuroi fired a blinding number of beams at Lucchini, but she was flying too fast for any of them to hit her. She tore through the neuroi with her Sunlight Strike. After a few seconds, Lucchini snapped her fingers. The multicore neuroi she tore through exploded into white fragments.

"Wow!" Several witches could be heard saying.

"That was clever." Mio said. "I watched you do that with my Magic Eye."

"What was that?" Minna asked.

"Lucchini used her basic and ultimate abilities simultaneously." Mio said. "One to burst through the neuroi, and the other to leave explosive charges inside to destroy it. She left enough charges to detonate the entire neuroi. All of the cores were destroyed before any of them could merge."

Lucchini grinned big as she made a victory sign with her left hand before moving on to her next target.

Another multicore neuroi floated higher above the witches. Mei decided to take it upon herself to destroy it. She charged in headfirst at the neuroi, blocking or dodging any beam launched her way.

After she got in range, she hit it with her recently learned ultimate technique, augmented by the basic golden aura. "Fire Storm!"

Her flames covered the entire neuroi, burning it to a crisp, leaving nothing but white fragments behind. She felt a strong sense of accomplishment, having destroyed a multicore neuroi with one blow. Her accomplishment was short lived as two more multicore neuroi took the place of the one she destroyed.

Louise and Yoko came to her rescue. Yoko, also using the basic golden aura to augment her power, completely froze and shattered one of the two multicore neuroi. Louise hit the remaining neuroi with the single large lightning bolt variant of the Multi Tonnerre ultimate. Louise did not have any aura to strengthen her attack, but lightning is naturally a bit more powerful than fire and ice, so she didn't need it.

Mei and Yoko were worn out after their performances, and although they received praise from the other witches, Mio ordered them to land and rest. Louise was still able to fight, but had to take it easy, as she overdid it a little bit and drained a good portion of her magic.

Kaylie and Layla made sure to maintain their comrades' impressive displays with their own attacks. Their magic types were unique. Kaylie used Time and Space magic whereas Layla used Creation and Destruction magic.

Kaylie waved her arms around in odd directions. Cube shaped barriers formed around every neuroi within five hundred meters of her. After a few more odd waves of her arms, the neuroi inside disintegrated into nothing. Not even white fragments were left.

Layla produced a similar result, but targeted the super large single core type neuroi instead. She hit them with arrows imbued with her destruction magic, instantly destroying them and leaving no trace of their existence behind.

Even Mio and Yoshika were in awe after witnessing their display. Every witch in the sky was speechless at their performance.

"What the hell was that?" Mio asked, finally breaking the silence among the witches.

"Well..." Kaylie said. "I used my space magic to creation small pocket dimensions around the neuroi, then used my time magic to instantly age them to dust. I wasn't sure if it would work, as I didn't know if neuroi actually could die of old age, but apparently they can."

"My attacks were a little simpler." Layla said. "I just enhanced my arrows with my destruction magic. Whatever my arrows hit was completely destroyed so long as the power of each individual arrow was more than their respective targets."

'If they can be flashy with their attacks, maybe I can use my red shields to do something cool, too.' She thought to herself.

Yoshika trained Yusu to generate multiple shields, but Yusu continued the training alone in secret to further master the ability. Her shields weren't the only ability she advanced, however.

Yusu barreled into the neuroi. There were still a few hundred left, even after the effort the witches had already put out. Yusu activated her aura, but unlike the others in her group that could use the aura, she advanced it beyond the golden aura. She advanced her aura all the way to the dark red stage, which greatly surprised Yoshika and Mio.

All of the neuroi around her fired their beams at her, numbering at over one hundred. Instead of the beams bouncing off harmlessly, they were absorbed by the dark red aura.

Yusu flung her arms outward, generating exactly one hundred red colored shields across the battlefield in her general vicinity. After a few moments, neuroi beams fired from the shields, destroying a large number of neuroi all at once.

"Yusu!" Yoshika said. "That was incredible."

She didn't know what to say in response to Yoshika's praise. After a moment, words came to her lips. "I'm afraid I can only do that once a day. It drained over half of my magic. Storing all of that neuroi energy in my aura caused the dark red aura's negative effect to worsen, so I had to spend a lot of healing magic to dampen the effect, and a lot of magic to generate the one hundred shields I needed to discharge the energy."

"Take it easy, then." Yoshika said. "You've more than earned it."

"Am I hearing a Lieutenant trying to order around a Colonel?" Yusu said. She tried to hide her teasing tone, but wasn't very good at it.

Yoshika caught on and laughed. She couldn't help but go along with it. "That's right. Lieutenant Great Grandma Yoshika ordering you to take it easy."

Yusu responded with, half giggling at Yoshika. "Yes, grandma."

Sanya and Eila finally woke up and joined the fray shortly after Yusu's performance.

Sanya delivered bad news as soon as she took to the sky.

"Please tell me you aren't serious." Mio said.

"I wish she wasn't." Minna said. "I just scanned out in that area as well. There are four of those colossal sized neuroi coming, as well as an elite humanoid neuroi."

"That may be only five, but they are all Class Nine." Mio said. "We can handle Class Eight no problem, but the difference between Eight and Nine is tremendous. We need to clear out the rest of these lesser neuroi before they get here. Can you and the others handle this while I go wake Xala and the others?"

"Go." Minna said.

* * *

Kye teleported back to her room in the castle and laid on the bed. She soon realized that something was out of place. After standing up, she picked up a note that had been written on a piece of modern paper and even written in modern language. It was in the language of Fuso.

'How did this get here?' She thought as she started reading.

'Kye, if you are reading this, then you have recovered your memories.' The note read. 'You may notice that there are still gaps in your memory, but that is by no accident. There are, or were, two locks on your memories. The first is that of your life as Princess Kye Akari, the second is your life of... well I cannot tell you even that. You have opened the lock on your memories as Princess Kye Akari, and now you must open the lock on the rest of your memories. To do so, you must find me. As you have your memories of your time in the Kingdom of Light, you will notice that there are a few minor differences between your memory of the kingdom and the Dream World version of it. I'm sure after reading that, you have already put those pieces together. The rest of the clues are in the memory gaps themselves. Use the context of the memories before and after a gap to guess what the gap itself is. I am trapped, but if you can find me, you will understand everything. Good Luck, Kye Miyafuji.' It was signed 'Goddess of Light, Kye Akari.' and had an additional note underneath. 'Upon destroying this note, you will once again be able travel freely between the Dream World and Real World.'

Kye dropped to her knees after she finished reading the note. 'Just what is going on?' She stared at the paper for a few more moments before setting it on fire with a nearby candle. 'No time to worry about that right now. I have to get back to the real world and make sure everything is alright.'

She stood up and looked into the mirror for a moment before phasing back to the real world.

Kye found herself in her own room, but immediately noticed something different after getting out of bed. She was still wearing the battle outfit from the Dream World.

"What the..." She muttered to herself. Her confusion was quickly pushed to the back of her mind when she sensed witch magic and neuroi energy in the airspace above.

She quickly grabbed her laptop and sent an email to Yami saying 'Problem, midnight.' before heading outside to join the battle.

* * *

Rei returned from the girl's room only to find her mother missing in bed, leaving a horrified expression on her face. She immediately tried to contact Mio. "Mio, we have a problem!"

"Not now, Rei." Mio replied. "We're dealing with five Class Nine neuroi up here."

"But Mio, my..." Rei was cut off.

"I said not now!" Mio said adamantly. "It can wait."

Rei was more concerned for her mother than the neuroi above. She didn't care about her orders to stay grounded, she still had her Air Band equipped in case of emergency, and this called for it. She ran outside, or rather flew down the hallway and burst through the doorway, and took to the air while carrying only her swords as far as weapons were concerned.

Mio had returned to the battlefield with Xala, Xelia, and Xia in tow just in time to see the four giant neuroi and the single humanoid neuroi start attacking.

"Mio, I can't fight." Yoshika said. "I'm barely able to block all of these beams. This is taking all of my attention."

"Just keep those beams from breaking through to the ground." Mio said. "We'll take care of this, somehow."

"Right." Yoshika responded.

Mio drew her Reppumaru and launched a blue aura powered Reppuzan at one of the colossal neuroi, tearing a large gash in it, but overall doing very little damage.

"Damn." She muttered. "We won't be able to pull our punches this time."

The neuroi briefly diverted their attention to the witches, leaving Yoshika with enough of a break to launch her own Reppuzan, empowered by the True Golden Aura. Her attack hit the same neuroi in the same spot as Mio's attack, and finished tearing through it.

It was immediately evident that Mio originally aimed at the core, as it was briefly exposed. The area around the core started regenerating at an incredible rate, but was not quick enough to block the next attack.

Rei had arrived at the battlefield just in time to get a hit in on the nearly covered up core of one of the colossal neuroi. She threw a white aura empowered Light Nova at the target, decimating the core. A large cloud of white fragments soon replaced the target neuroi.

"Rei!?" Mio said after confirming who had delivered the killing blow. "You aren't cleared for combat."

"I don't care!" Rei shot back quickly. "Mom is gone!"

"What?" Mio said with a sudden hint of anxiety. "Shit. We have to wrap this up quick and figure out where she is."

Xala and the others flew in toward the three remaining colossal sized neuroi, each firing powerful blue energy beams. Their attacks did not hit, however. The single humanoid neuroi blocked their attacks with three massive red energy barriers, shaped similarly to witch shields.

"You'll have to do better than that, former Commander Xala." The neuroi said. Its voice was male, and upon closer inspection, the witches and their three allied neuroi discovered that its body was masculine as well.

"I know that voice." Xala said. "Captain Xan."

"It's Commander Xan, now." Xan correct.

"I see you took my place." Xala said.

"It wasn't hard to fill." Xan gloated.

Xala turned to Mio and Minna. "Be careful, witches. He is an Elite Warrior class. He is every bit as powerful as myself, Xelia, or Xia."

"Not quite." Xan said. "You give yourself too much credit, Xala. I am a Super Elite, or Class Ten as the humans would rank me."

Xala and the others became nervous upon hearing his claim. They could not deny it either, after sensing his power.

"I can fight him, but not while holding off the beams from the others." Yoshika said.

"Why do you think I brought so many friends?" Xan said. "Strategy."

Suddenly, the witches heard a familiar voice that nobody had expected to hear. "Modify: Keikei. Modify: Bunkatsu. Modify: Kibaku." The voice said. It became apparently where the person what when everyone sensed an enormous rise in magic to the side.

"Kye!" Yoshika said before realizing her appearance. "But... that outfit..."

"Kousen." Kye said as she launched an enormous beam of light magic from her hands. She positioned herself just before casting her spell so that the three colossal neuroi were lined up. As her attack tore through each neuroi, two smaller beams split off inside and exploded, dealing massive damage to each one. None of their cores were hit, or exposed, but the damage suffered caused them to cease their attacks, giving Yoshika another window of opportunity.

Yoshika drew her Jouten and immediately charged up toward the regenerating neuroi, only to be temporarily stopped by Kye. She had hit Yoshika's version of Jouten with her own. The two swords glowed in a silver light for a moment. The light slowly crept up Yoshika's arm before it completely engulfed her body. Yoshika immediately understood.

The two returned their attention to the three colossal neuroi above and noticed that they did not have time to regenerate. The other witches launched all out attacks after Mio revealed the location of their cores. Perrine and Louise combined their lightning magic to penetrate one, but was unable to completely destroy the core. Minna covered for them by combining her ultimate, Area Destruction with her enchanted glaive. She pierced the core, shattering it to pieces.

Lucchini used her Sunlight Strike and Explosive Strike combo to blow away the area surrounding the core of the next one. Shirley used her enchanted rifle and her speed magic to shoot an abnormally powerful round at the core. White fragments were all that was left in its wake.

Erica used her air magic to blow a hole through the last of the colossal neuroi. She used a long range variation of her Great Sturm ultimate, but was unable to finish off the core. Trude swooped in and finished it off with a powerful punch enhanced with her enchanted gauntlets.

Kye and Yoshika both turned their attention to the final target, the Elite Humanoid Neuroi known as Xan.

Yoshika activated her True Golden Aura, followed soon by Kye. For a brief moment, Yoshika was surprised that Kye was using the very same True Golden Aura.

"You're full of surprises today." Yoshika said.

"Indeed." Kye said. "We have something to talk about later as well, but first... let's deal with this one."

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

Ultimate Augmentation - Fragmentation - Lucchini (or as she called it "Blow Everything Up Attack")

Combination Attack - Sunlight Strike + Explosion Strike - Lucchini

Ultimate Ability - Fire Storm - Mei

Ultimate Augmentation - Aura Empowerment - Mei and Kiyoko

Ultimate Ability - Blizzard - Kiyoko

Ultimate Variation - Multi Tonnerre: Focused Lightning - Louise

Ultimate Variation - Dimensional Gate: Pocket Dimension - Kaylie

Ultimate Variation - Temporal Distortion: Time Forward - Kaylie

Ultimate Variation - Mass Destruction: Arrows of Disintegration - Layla

Aura Ability (Stage 4: Dark Red) - Energy Absorption - Yusu

Ultimate Shield Ability - Multi Red Shields - Yusu

Neuroi Barrier - Xan

Ultimate Ability: Kousen (Ray of Light) - Kye  
-Augmentation: Keikei (Piercing) - Kye  
-Augmentation: Bunkatsu (Splitting) - Kye  
-Augmentation: Kibaku (Exploding) - Kye

Combination Attack - Area Destruction + Enchanted Glaive - Minna

Combination Attack - Speed Control + Enchanted Rifle - Shirley

Ultimate Variation - Great Sturm (Long Range) - Erica

True Golden Aura - Kye

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

Xan - Neuroi Commander and Class Ten Elite Humanoid Neuroi

* * *

**A LOT of new techniques were introduced in this chapter. Ultimate Variations and Augmentations were introduced. Everyone that uses an ultimate has created variations since the end of the Second Neuroi War. Augmentations are a little different. Currently, the only augmentations are the Aura Empowerment, which has been used by the veteran witches who use auras (Yoshika, Rei, ect), Lucchini's Fragmentation Augmention  
**

**Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Yoko, and Mei have been practicing their ultimates for a while now. They have made advancements with the help of the Strike Witches, but did have any of them battle ready until the week between their arrival in Liberion and the battle in this chapter.  
**

**An important thing to note, the veteran witches have not grown overly powerful in their time between Worldwide Liberation and now, but they have grown. Their magic capacity has increased substantially. If you will remember, Lucchini and Erica were the first to master their ultimates in Worldwide Liberation, but could not manage to use them more than once or twice at first. Now they are able to use them repeatedly without tiring and put the full amount of magic into them, thus allowing them to use the full power of their ultimates. Their potential has been high from the beginning.  
**

**Kye has regained her memories and discovered that the Goddess is trapped somewhere.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	16. Chapter 16: A Witch's Secret

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 16: A Witch's Secret

May 2nd, 2012

* * *

The only neuroi left was the Class Ten Super Elite Humanoid Neuroi, Commander Xan.

As Kye and Yoshika readied themselves to fight, Xan raised both of his arms and formed several humanoid neuroi drones.

"I'll give your friends something to play with while we fight." Xan said. "There's enough for one on one combat."

"No." Kye said. She raised her sword and pointed it in Xan's direction. Just as the humanoid drones started moving, Kye swung her sword at the neuroi and destroyed them with relative ease. "Shockwave Strike."

Not a single drone was left.

"The hell?" Xan said as he looked around at his drones, now white fragments.

"I destroyed them with a gravity attack." Kye said. "I fired a stream of magic from my sword that was so condensed that it caused everything nearby to collapse in on it."

"Impossible." Xan said. "I know the power of that technique. There's no way you could have destroyed all of them with one shot."

"I can sense the darkness in your soul." Kye said. "We gave Xia the option to join us, but you will get no such treatment."

"You talk as if you have the power to defeat me." Xan said. "Don't get so ahead of yourself just because you destroyed a few of my weak Class Eight drones."

Kye laughed before responding. "I could say the same thing to you. If this had been any day before now, you may have had a chance to win, but not now."

"What makes you so sure of yourself?" Xan asked.

Kye started to answer him, but was interrupted by the appearance of a new fighter attacking Xan. "Kye, don't do it. You need to keep that suppressed for now."

Kye was caught surprised for a moment. "Right. I can do this as I am now, anyway."

"I've had just about enough of your mouth, girl." Xan said as he fired a volley of beams at the witches, one for each witch in the sky. His beams were powerful enough to pierce through their shields, but a second red shield stopped the beams short of touching anyone. "What?!"

"I saw the technique Yusu used." Kye said as she formed a single red shield in front of her. "I formed a red shield in front of each beam to absorb it. Let's see what you do against your own power." A large powerful neuroi beam launched from her shield.

Xan raised a barrier to block the beam, but the beam shattered it and tore him in two. He barely survived thanks to his core holding up through the attack.

"Of course, I took Yusu's technique a step further and added a bit of my own power to it." Kye said.

Somewhat frustrated, Xan flew high above the witches and launched an omnidirectional attack consisting of hundreds of neuroi beams.

Between Yoshika and Kye, every beam was blocked and reflected by reflection shields.

"I see I can't afford to go easy with you." Xan said as he weaved through the reflected beams. "It looks like I have to use lethal force. I relish in the idea... yes... I'll kill you, your friends, and everyone with any connection to you."

"I see." Kye said. "I'll have to respond in kind."

Xan fired a condensed beam at Kye, but she didn't move even an inch. She backhanded the beam away as swatting a fly.

"Damn you, girl." Xan said. He stretched his arm out in Kye's direction and charged up his energy for what seemed to be an eternity. After he was finally done preparing, he launched a giant beam at Kye.

'I can't dodge this one.' She thought as she glanced backwards. 'They'll get hit if I do.' She poured an enormous amount of energy into her blade, instantly sparking the attention of Yoshika, Rei, and Mio. Rei had only felt a similar energy once before, but Yoshika and Mio had felt it twice. "Reppuzan!"

She fired an immensely powerful Reppuzan, which Yoshika knew immediately was the very same Reppuzan that she had used to destroy the Super Hive at Venezia and the Neuroi Queen at the Mother Hive. The super powered Reppuzan blasted through Xan's enormous energy beam, splitting it apart as it went. Xan barely managed to dodge the wave of energy when it reached him.

"What the hell was that?" Xan asked. "I know the power of the Reppuzan and the True Reppuzan. That was too powerful to be either."

"Let me explain then." Kye began. "The Reppuzan is the baseline technique of several more powerful techniques. The attack I just launch was indeed neither the Reppuzan nor True Reppuzan. The True Reppuzan, by the way, is much stronger than what I just used. What we have been calling the True Reppuzan all this time actually is simply a full powered standard Reppuzan. What I just shot at you was close to the True Reppuzan, but not nearly as powerful. I imbued light magic and dark magic into that Reppuzan.

"So all this time..." Mio started.

"We have never used the True Reppuzan?" Rei finished.

"Right." Kye said. "And just for the record, Yoshika didn't consciously unleash it either time. Only in a true time of need can the technique be performed without proper knowledge, knowledge that Yoshika and I now have. Also, the proper name for the True Reppuzan is the Zen Reppuzan."

The other witches floated in awe at a mix of Kye's performance and her revelation.

"Play time is over." Xan said.

"I thought you already said you weren't holding back anymore." Kye retorted, intentionally trying to strike a nerve.

"Not quite." Xan said as he formed a neuroi katana in his right hand. "I stopped holding back when I said I would, but I wasn't exactly trying very hard outside of using my full power."

"I see." Kye replied. She pulled Jouten's sheath from her back, but left the sheathed Akarimaru on its strap. After sheathing Jouten, she held the sword to her side and hovered her hand over the hilt.

"And what are you doing?" Xan asked, intending for the question to be rhetorical, but he was answered anyway.

"Come at me and you'll see." Kye taunted.

"I recognize that stance." Mio said. "It's the same stance from the Dream World."

"She intends to use Battojutsu or Genbatto." Yami said. "But can she pull it off without the speed she possesses in the Dream World."

Rei couldn't help but ask, "Without her speed? She can fly at Mach 4 on a good day."

"That's nothing compared to what she and I are capable of in the Dream World." Yami answered. "I don't think Genbatto is possible in this world, but she might be able to do Battojutsu."

Xan charged at Kye while pouring energy into his katana. He intended to use the neuroi beam sword attack inspired by the Reppuzan.

"Battojutsu... Reppuzan." Kye murmured, just barely loud enough to hear. She drew her sword at an incredible sped, but the Reppuzan she fired flew at an even greater speed.

By the time that Xan saw the attack leave the blade, it was too late. He tried to dodge the inconceivably fast attack, but barely managed to move a hair before being hit. The attack missed his core by mere centimeters.

"That was a cheap trick." He said. "That isn't enough to..."

Kye cut him off. She closed the distance between them in an instant and was already directly above him in midattack. Her aura changed to pitch black before she launched her attack. "Blade of Oblivion."

Her attack hit Xan and carried him to the ground. His body was torn up, but regenerating. Instinctively, he returned to the air to avoid being cornered on the ground, but Kye saw through it.

She was in front of him again, but this time she was using the Light Aura. "Kami Katto."

Xan was blasted several hundred meters back after being hit by Kye's Kami Katto attack.

"I purposely missed your core each time." Kye said. "I won't give you another chance if you don't step up your game."

Xan recovered from the attack albeit highly damaged. "Stop toying with me, girl! I'll make you regret it."

"Stop toying with you?" Kye responded quiet, almost too quiet to be heard.

She gripped her sword and released her huge store of magic power, but did not stop there. Her aura changed back to the True Golden Aura but had sparks of the Light Aura and Dark Aura.

"All three?" Mio said. "What is she doing?"

"She's not trying to release all three, but push past that." Yami said. "It'll be an amazing feat if she succeeds."

After a moment, the sparks from her aura turned silver. Her aura slowly started flashing between gold and silver.

"That color!" Eila said. "I've seen that! In my vision!"

Kye's aura was overpowering. It emitted so much pressure that even Yoshika in her True Golden Aura started feeling uneasy around her. Everyone else was forced to back away from the tremendous pressure generated.

"Must... go... higher!" She grunted as she continued to push her magic to the limits.

Even Xan grew afraid of what she was doing. Her aura finally flashed into a solid silver, but the same instant that it changed, an electric shock ran through her body, causing her to grimace at the pain. "What?"

"What's wrong?" Minna said. "She looks like she's hurt."

Rei scanned her mother for clues as to what was going on. "Look! There are electric pulses coming from her Air Bands."

"Could something be wrong with them?" Mio asked.

Kye floated downward a few meters before attempting to fire another empowered Reppuzan.

Suddenly, the four Air Band parts on her wrists and ankles shattered, and the belt part cracked.

Her aura was still active, but she couldn't aim properly. Regardless, she attempted to hit Xan with the empowered Reppuzan, but missed.

Xan took the opportunity to flee as Yoshika chose to fly after Kye instead of engaging him. He knew Yoshika could beat him, especially after Kye had weakened him so much, and had no intention of staying around to die.

Yoshika caught Kye just a few meters before she hit the ground. Her aura faded shortly after as she fell unconscious.

* * *

Later in the evening after the battle, the witches had taken Kye to the infirmary. The main doctor on base took a look at her, but couldn't find anything wrong.  
It wasn't until the lead mechanic looked at the recovered shards of her Air Band that they figured out what happened. The wrist and ankle pieces were in pieces, but the belt was still salvageable as far as examining it.

"How many volts can the human body take without dying?" The mechanic asked. He was holding the broken belt piece of Kye's Air Band.

Mio, Minna, Yoshika, Rei, and Yami were in the room with the doctor and mechanic.

"That depends on the person." The doctor answered. "Some people can take only a few hundred, others can take a few thousand, but usually between thirty and forty thousand will almost always kill a person."

"You said almost always."

"Right. There are a few oddball occurrences where someone has taken over one hundred thousand and lived. I think the record is three hundred and forty thousand."

"Well, we're about to blow that out of the water." The mechanic said. "General Miyafuji somehow just survived over three million volts."

The doctor, as well as the witches nearby, were suddenly speechless.

"I don't know for sure how her Air Band generated that many volts, but I have an idea. Typically, the Air Bands generate volts up to around five thousand. I've seen voltage in the fifty thousand range with more powerful witches, which leads me to believe that the more magic power a witch has, the more voltage their Air Band generates. I'm guessing her inhuman magic power is the reason the voltage shot off the charts."

"Just how much is three million volts?" Mio asked.

"Compare it to a natural bolt of lightning." The doctor answered. "You said that she looked like she was being shocked for a solid ten seconds, right?"

"Right." Mio said.

"How she survived that with no damage to her body is beyond belief."

"Perhaps it was her aura that protected her." Yoshika said. "Our auras force more of our magic power to flow to increase our abilities. We can touch neuroi beams while using our auras and never feel the heat from them."

"That's probably it." The doctor replied. "That's the only thing that could possibly keep her alive through ten seconds of three million volts."

Yami pulled Yoshika to the side and whispered to her, "Care to join me for a minute? We need to talk before she wakes up."

"Sure." Yoshika whispered back before turning back to the others and raising her voice loud enough for them to hear. "I'll be right back."

"Alright, Yoshika." Mio said as Yoshika and Yami left the room.

"Will she wake up?" Minna asked.

"Honestly, I think she'll wake up pretty soon." The doctor said. "Her vitals are normal, and she has no injuries. It's as if she was just knocked unconscious. It's been a few hours, so I doubt she'll be out for much longer."

"That's good." Minna said. "Dismissed."

The mechanic and doctor left the room after being dismissed. As soon as Minna knew she and Mio were alone, she spoke her mind.

"I want answers. She was in a coma for a week, then she turns up more powerful than ever in the battle today. What is going on?" Minna had her arms crossed and as serious of an expression as possible. Mio knew she couldn't avoid it.

"It's not my place to say." Mio said. "I expect she'll want to explain it to everyone after she wakes up, especially since Yami showed up."

"Who IS Yami? I've never heard of her, and she isn't wearing any sort of uniform or insignia."

"She's... well..."

"I'm Kye's sister." Yami said as she and Yoshika returned to the room.

"What?" Minna said. "Kye and Dr. Miyafuji don't have a third sibling."

"I'm not related to Kye as a Miyafuji, Yami explain, "but as an Akari."

"It's true, Minna." Mio confirmed.

Minna's face was riddled with confusion. She tried to argue the claim, but was stopped short by Kye, who had just woken up when Yami and Yoshika returned to the room.

"Kye?" Minna gasped.

"I'm sorry, Minna." Kye apologized. "Secrecy is something I'm not fond of, but it is sometimes necessary. I didn't want to burden you and the others with this information until the time was right." She turned to Mio. "It's time to tell everyone about the Dream World and about my distant past as the Crown Princess of the Light Kingdom. Can you go tell everyone to gather in the briefing room?"

"Who is everyone?" Mio asked. "Just the 501st or any of the new generation?"

"All of the Strike Witches, but also include the six that came with us from Fuso."

"Alright. Do you want to do this right now?"

"Yes."

"I'll see you in the briefing room then." Mio said as she left the room.

Yami leaned against the wall next to the bed Kye was laying in. "You know, trying to use the Zen Aura in your mortal body was pretty risky. You aren't immortal here like back home."

"I didn't expect the fry the Air Band though." Kye said. "It felt like I got struck by lightning when the damn thing backfired."

"That's what the doctor and mechanic said."

"Well, I was just making a joke out of it, but seriously?"

"Yeah. They said you got continuously shocked for ten seconds with about three million volts. They compared that to getting struck by natural lightning for ten seconds straight."

"Huh. How about that." Kye said as looked over her body for burn marks. "I got out of that with nothing?"

"Yep. You need to be more careful though. You make have the knowledge of all of your old techniques, but your mortal body can't handle most of them yet."

"Yeah. By the way, did you do the rebirth thing or are you still the same as in the old days?"

"I'm still the same, though I'm curious about something. Why did you even do the rebirth thing?"

"I don't know. That memory is locked with the Goddess."

"I see." Yami said as she closed her eyes and became silent.

The entire room was silent for several minutes. Minna was lost in thought, trying to piece together what she had learned. Yoshika was merely waiting while humming quietly to herself. Kye and Yami both stared out of the window at the sky.

After a while, their quiet time was interrupted by a call over the intercom from Mio. "Everyone is waiting in the briefing room."

Kye quickly responded. "We'll be right there."

Kye jumped up and headed toward the door, but was stopped by Yoshika. She noticed something after finally getting a good look at her aunt's face.

"Your eyes." Yoshika said. "They are the same."

Kye glanced into the mirror and saw that her once brown eyes had become silver, just as they were in the Dream World.

Yami and Kye both knew what that meant, but it was Yami that spoke. "Well that would help explain how you survived the shock earlier. It looks like your mortal body is adapting to your original power. Your eyes were still brown a few hours ago."

"It seems so." Kye said as she opened the door and left, soon followed by the others.

* * *

Kye, Minna, Yoshika, and Yami entered the briefing room, where the other witches had already gathered.

Kye walked over to the center of the room, with Mio and Minna standing off to the side. Yami leaned against the wall behind Kye while Yoshika took a seat in front of Lynne and next to Rei.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lynne whispered to her brown-headed friend.

"She's going to explain." Yoshika whispered back. "Just hold on for a minute."

Kye looked around the room to make sure everyone she wanted to talk to was present. In the first row on the left sat Erica and Trude. Shirley and Lucchini were in the row above them. Yoshika and Rei were sitting in the first row of the middle section with Perrine and Lynne directly above them. Sanya and Eila were in the first row on the right. Louise and Yusu sat in the row directly above Sanya and Eila. Yoko and Mei were in the top row above them with Kaylie and Layla sitting in the top row in the middle section. The top row on the left was empty.

"Good, everyone is here." Kye said before clearing her throat. "Before I start, I have someone to introduce to everyone."

Yami stepped forward. "I'm pleased to meet you all in person. Individual introductions from the lot of you won't be necessary, as I already know who you are. As for myself, I am Princess Yami Akari of the Light Kingdom."

Everyone started whispering amongst themselves upon hearing her introduction. Only Mio, Minna, Yoshika, and Rei remained quiet.

Kye clapped her hands to get their attention. "I apologize, but there is no need to speculate amongst yourselves. You'll find out shortly. Now, you all know me as Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji, but that is my second identity. All but three of you are oblivious to my first identity."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yami asked.

"They deserve to know." Kye said. "My first identity is that of Crown Princess Kye Akari, also of the Light Kingdom."

"Where is this Light Kingdom?" Trude asked in a strong demanding tone.

"It is where Yami and I were born." Kye said. "The Kingdom of Light exists in a different realm altogether known as the Realm of Light. There are many things that you don't know, but if you can remain patient with me for a little bit, I will explain everything to you. I'll explain the Dream World, I'll explain the Realm of Light, I'll explain how I have two identities, and most importantly, I'll explain why this war is being fought."

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

The Zen Aura - Kye (Only managed to activate it for a moment)

Empowered Reppuzan (Light and Dark infused) - Kye

Battojutsu Reppuzan (Drawing from the sheath variant) - Kye

The Zen Reppuzan - Kye and Yoshika (Mentioned only)

* * *

**This chapter was rich in revealing information. Yami has made her appearance in front of the witches, Kye explained various types of Reppuzan attacks, Kye briefly displayed the seventh stage aura "The Zen Aura", Kye got shocked by her Air Band from overloading it, and now she intends to explain to the witches what has been going on lately. I rewrote part of this chapter a few times. I couldn't decide how I wanted the Zen Aura and Zen Reppuzan to be revealed, but eventually settled on what you just read. I didn't originally intend for Kye to overload her Air Band (or for it to even be possible to do so), but felt I needed to do this for gating purposes. Since recovering her memories and retaining her techniques from the Dream World, her power has grown substantially, the point where she can effortlessly switch between all three stage six auras and show no fatigue from doing so, whereas beforehand, switching between just two of them a couple times wore her out.  
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**We can expect to see more Class Ten "Super Elite Humanoid Neuroi" appear in the future. Xala, Xelia, and Xia may possibly advance to this stage, but that remains to be seen. I feel as though I need to advance as least one of them. I'm planning a chapter soon where those three go on a mission with only two to three witches, as I think they need more... "air time" I suppose I could call it.  
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**I do intend to expand on the Dark Witches more later on, likely in the third arc. (I have four arcs planned at the moment.)  
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**All in all, I have a lot of things planned right now for this story. I'd love to hear your thoughts as a reader on the recent happenings of this story if you have spare time, my inbox is always welcoming your PMs!**

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**Edits  
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**2/11/2013: Fixed an error. Part near the beginning incorrectly read: ""No." Kye said. She raised her left hand and pointed her palm in Xan's direction." Where it was supposed to read "She raised her sword and pointed it in Xan's direction."**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

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******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	17. Chapter 17: Recent Occurrence

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 17: Recent Occurrence

May 2nd, 2012

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Kye stood in the briefing room before the several witches who she felt deserved to know what has been going on behind the scenes lately. She intended to tell them everything.

"I have a suggestion." Mio said. "If you are able to transport everyone here to the Dream World, why not explain it there? I made sure nobody would interrupt us, so you have plenty of time."

"Good idea." Kye replied. "Everyone, please hold hands. I will transport our minds to the Dream World. Everything will be clearer there."

"You might want use the top of the castle for your destination." Yami added. "If you remember how to do that now."

"I do." Kye said.

Most of the witches were reluctant, but eventually everyone held hands, allowing Kye to transport the entire group to the Dream World.

* * *

"This is the Dream World." Kye said. Before explaining anything, she stayed quiet for a few moments to allow everyone to look around. They were so surprised that it took everyone a moment to notice that they were now wearing traditional kimonos of various colors.

The witches were at the top of the royal castle of the Light Kingdom. The castle was surrounded by a prosperous city. There were people out in its streets trading, there were children playing games in open areas, and there were no elderly, which confused the witches.

Perrine was surprised enough to ask about the lack of elderly citizens. "Why are there no older people?"

"There are plenty." Kye said. "Some of the people that appear to be around twenty years old are in reality several hundred years old. The people of the Light Kingdom have long lifespans, and nobody grows old. They still die of old age, but their old age is chronological only."

"I see." Perrine muttered with clear surprise in her voice. It wasn't only her, though. Everyone was shocked at the revelation.

"The King and Queen, my parents, are much older." Kye went on. She spoke softly while reminiscing. "They are so old that most of the people think they are immortal. In a sense, they are, but they aren't. They can die, but not by any natural causes. As long as they have food and water, they can live forever. Yami and I are the same."

The witches were in awe at the kingdom.

"This place is not perfect." Yami said. Her voice was rather distant, as if she was thinking about one thing and talking about another. "The people are happy, but there is always an outside attempt to conquer the city."

"You and I foiled a lot of invasions in these days, didn't we?" Kye asked, nudging her sister.

"You said this is the Dream World, correct?" Minna said. "Does that mean that this place is fake? Or that this is a copy of the real thing? Or what?"

"This is the Dream World of my memory of the Realm of Light." Kye answered, returning to explanation mode. "While the name of this is the Dream World, this is not a dream. Don't try anything stupid that may result in injury or death. It will reciprocate on your real body. This place is more of a memory world than anything. As such, a more appropriate name could be the Land of Memory. We can mess with the past here and it will have no effects whatsoever on the real thing."

"Kye and I share this Dream World, since we combined our individual Dream Worlds." Yami said, surprising even Kye.

"We did?"

"Yeah. Your memory of that event is probably locked with the goddess, but we did."

"I see. That would explain we both are able to travel here independently.

"Right."

"And everyone has a Dream World, but not everyone can access it." Yoshika added. "I remember that part."

"Right." Yami confirmed.

"Anyway." Kye continued. "The Dream World is our memory of the real thing. We can come here to visit the past and do basically whatever we want."

"You should explain the differences between here and the real world." Mio suggested. "Like how you have greater power here."

"What?" Trude said. "Greater power?"

Kye sighed. "I wanted to show that part instead of explain, but yes, Mio is right. Here, I have access to my original power. In the Dream World and the Realm of Light, I have complete control of my Zen Energy. You all saw me attempt to use it in the battle this afternoon, right? It was the silver aura."

The witches nodded.

"Kye, I had a vision." Eila said. "It involved your Zen Energy thing."

"We'll discuss that soon then." Kye said. "I wasn't sure if I could actually activate that aura in the real world, and it seems trying was a bad idea. I can't fly without strikers or air bands in the real world like I can here, and either one would overload from the massive magic input from the Zen Energy, so even though I can just barely push it, I can't actually use it." She floated into the air, proving her ability to fly unaided.

"Rei, Mio, and Yoshika already know about my power, but they haven't seen too much of it." She continued as she looked around for something to use for a display.

"Kye, it looks like you have a scapegoat to show them your power here." Yami said as she pointed into the sky. A colossal sized neuroi was floating at a high altitude.

"It'll do I suppose." Kye said.

"Why is a neuroi here?" Minna asked.

"I'm not completely sure." Yami answered. "They don't exist in the Realm of Light, so I'm figuring Zen is putting them here to annoy us." "Probably." Kye said.

"They are no threat, just a minor inconvenience usually."

"She said minor..." Perrine muttered.

Kye formed a ball of light in her hand. "This is a standard Light Wave. Even a basic attack here is very powerful. Watch." She threw the ball at the neuroi. As soon as it left her hand, it speeded up considerably, clearing the distance in less than a second before exploding on contact.

"I didn't think you were THAT much stronger here." Rei said. "A basic Light Wave with no aura active was stronger than a Light Nova in the real world with the Light Aura active."

"Right." Kye said. "I can use the same abilities, but they are significantly weaker in the real world. Why? I don't know. Anyway, does everyone understand the Dream World? It's a world of memories, you can die here, abilities are more powerful..." She trailed off, waiting for a response from the witches, which she soon received. "Good. Until recently, almost all of my memories have been locked, and until a little less recently, I didn't know it."

"When DID you find out about this?" Yoshika asked.

"The time I blacked out when I first used the Light Aura." Kye told her. "I woke up here and somehow knew what this place was, but didn't know everything. It was like there were missing memories. And you remember my fight with Yami. That was just a week ago. That was when I recovered my memories, but there are still some locked."

"And the only way to unlock them is to find the Goddess of Light." Yami added. "We don't know where she is, though."

"Which leads me to the next bit of explaining." Kye said. She waved her left hand around for a moment, forming a trail of silver energy in the air. She expanded the silver energy to cover everyone. "Or rather, you already know, but your memory of the event is blocked... or was."

Realization dawned over the witches as their memory returned of the Fuso Neuroi Base battle and the gods that appeared.

"The Goddess was sealed inside you." Trude said quietly. She, as well as the rest of the witches, was having trouble with the impact of that memory.

"The reason I was in a coma for a week, is because I was trapped in the Dream World." Kye said. "The Goddess was sealed inside me, but when I regained part of my memory, she vanished. It wasn't until I found a note left by her that I was able to return. And you know what happened after I returned. I joined the battle pretty quickly. Is everyone still following me?"

Everyone remained silent and only nodded, giving her the go ahead to continue.

"Alright. On to the next point. The Realm of Light still exists. It is where Yami and I were born and raised. What you see here is what it looked like ten thousand years ago. I haven't been in the real Realm of Light since it was like this, so I don't know if it is still the same or not. Doesn't matter. This partially ties in with how I have two identities. The memory of the event is locked, but I do know that it happened. Somehow, I was reborn as a mortal, Kye Miyafuji. Rebirth magic is rare. I don't even know how I did it. But I do know that it requires a descendant."

Even Yoshika, Mio, and Rei were caught off guard with that statement.

"This part you three don't know yet." Kye said. "I had two daughters, and they are the cause of my leaving the Realm of Light. The King of the Gods, Zalen, took them from me after they..."

"You have daughters from here?" Rei asked weakly. She was overcome by that revelation.

"Yes, and that doesn't mean you are not my daughter." Kye said as she put her hand on Rei's head. Rei's expression quickly changed to relief as her mother spoke. "You are still mine, like it or not."

Rei said nothing, but instead hugged Kye.

"Now, I don't know if it is a coincidence or what, but you two have the same names and powers as my first two daughters." Kye said while pointing back and forth between Kaylie and Layla.

"Us?" They said together.

"Yes. It could be a coincidence, or there could me more to it, I don't know, but you are both descendants of them."

"Wait, how are they BOTH descendants of your first two daughters?" Mio asked. "Wouldn't the family line have split?"

"My daughters, Kaylie and Layla, learned their powers very quickly." Kye said. "I was about to explain this part when squirt here interrupted me."

"I'm sorry!" Rei apologized.

"My daughters experimented with creation magic." Kye said. "Both were proficient with Time, Space, Creation, and Destruction, although Kaylie was more specialized with the first two whereas Layla was more specialized with the latter two. They experimented with Creation magic and their own DNA. Somehow, they managed to create a child with both of their DNA. King Zalen got wind of this and punished them. I haven't seen them since, but the Goddess told me they are still alive, although I didn't remember who they were at the time."

"What happened to the child?" Yoshika asked.

"I took her to the mortal world, Earth." Kye answered. "I didn't want Zalen to get her. It was a girl, by the way. Kaylie and Layla treasured the girl after they created her. I made damn sure she was safe after Kaylie and Layla were taken away. Do you want to know what they named the girl?"

"She was named after my sword, wasn't she?" Yami said.

"Yes." Kye said. "Yuko Miyafuji. That is where the Miyafuji family line started. It eventually made it down to the five thousand year old Yoshika Miyafuji, who we all know by her nickname, Yusu, and kept going, all the way to us."

"That means you are your own descendant." Erica pointed out.

"Well, technically, I suppose that's right, but Kye Miyafuji wouldn't exist today without the Rebirth magic." Kye said. "The other requirement of Rebirth magic is that the descendant it is used on must have otherwise died before birth. If I hadn't used rebirth on Kye Miyafuji, she would have died before she was born, which means Rei, and the Kaylie and Layla that are here would not have existed."

"I'm not sure if this part is locked in your memories or not, but everyone here is a descendant of Yuko Miyafuji." Yami said. "The family line split several ways before the Ancient Neuroi War. I kept track of this myself from generation to generation."

"Really?" Kye asked.

"Yeah."

"I didn't know that."

"A few other witches from Fuso are also of Miyafuji lineage. Takeko Katou, Keiko Katou, Ayaka Kuroe, and a few others... basically all of the blade wielding witches. The direct line comes down to Yoshika and Rei, but the other sword witches and everyone here also have a little Miyafuji blood in them."

"That explains their innate magic power." Kye said. "Anyway, that is why I left the Realm of Light, and how I have two identities. Now for the most important part, the reason this war is being fought. Since I restored your memory of that day when the gods appeared in front of us, you know part of it now, but I'll explain it in detail."

"Please do." Minna said. "This war seems pointless now."

"It really is pointless." Kye agreed. "Mankind means the neuroi no harm, and the neuroi are only fighting out of fear for their survival this time around. We can't come out and tell mankind or the neuroi that they are being used by the gods, though."

"Used by the gods?" Shirley said. "What do you mean?"

"The God of Darkness, Zen, is the reason behind the existence of the neuroi, just as the Goddess of Light, Kye, is the reason behind the existence of the witches." Kye explained. "There have been several minor wars between the neuroi and mankind since the Ancient Neuroi War five thousand years ago, but the Ancient War itself, as well as the First and Second Great Neuroi Wars in the first half of the twentieth century has created a sort of rivalry. Queen Xera got the bright idea to spark a new war, and it worked. King Zalen has already grown irritated with mankind for what they've done to the world in the last few centuries, so he's using this war as a proving grounds."

"What sort of proving grounds?" Trude asked.

"He wants to find out if mankind will continue to deteriorate the world if left unchecked." Kye continued. "Mankind is very well capable of winning this war, but to do so, they will virtually have to wipe out the neuroi. If mankind wins the war, they lose in Zalen's eyes. That is why we have to come to a peaceful solution. Yoshika and I have already talked about this. I thought I would discover how to cast the spell Zen Serenity if I regained my memories, but it seems that spell is locked with the Goddess."

"You told me Zen Serenity can be the peaceful solution." Yoshika said.

"That's right." Kye said. "It clams and soothes the minds of everyone in its range. Anyone, regardless of if they are human or neuroi, will lose their will to fight and carry no ill intentions for the duration. That will give us the opportunity to explain to both sides that this war needs to end, that neither side has a need to fight against the other."

"I see." Minna said. "You seem to have been working on this solution a lot."

"I have." Kye said. "I can't help but get the feeling that once the war is over, something else is going to happen."

"You are probably right." Yami said. "You'll have beaten Xera and Zalen, and I doubt they'll like that very much."

Kye and Yami instantly had their hands on the hilts of their swords. Kye had the look of a killer in her eyes.

"Show yourself." Kye said. "I know you are there Zen."

"You certainly have a big mouth, Kye." A voice boomed from the sky shortly before the God of Darkness, Zen Akari, appeared. "You know you shouldn't be telling mortals all of this information."

"That's my business." Kye said. "I know you aren't here to just tell me that. Now what do you want? You aren't welcome here."

"I just wanted to pop in and have some fun." Zen said, almost taunting.

"I will not tolerate it if you cause me trouble here." Kye said adamantly.

"Oh? And just what could you do about it?" Zen shot back.

"Are you sure you want to find out?" Kye said confidently. She was clearly trying to taunt him. "Even if you are a god, you can't stand up to me here."

"Believe that if you wish." Zen said calmly. "Why don't we find out?"

"So be it." Kye said as she vanished.

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**Kye has explained everything to the witches, and even learned a couple things from Yami. Just for the record, there were three locks on Kye's memories of the past before the Rebirth. The first was unlocked when she first visited the Dream World after she mastered the Light Aura. She didn't know much at first, but learned a lot in the couple chapters where she visited the Dream World, as well as the times she went there "behind the scenes". Eventually, the second lock was released at the end of her duel against Yami. She remembered most of the important stuff, but there are still a few things kept hidden by the third memory lock.**

**With Kye explaining everything to the witches, Zen has made an appearance in the Dream World. The next chapter will cover their fight!**

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**I have started a new "Mini Adventures" series where I will write short, fun chapters about the various Strike Witches. These chapters will either be something I wanted to write about, or a request from my readers... which I am taking requests. Check it out for more information, it is posted in the Strike Witches section (of course), or you can find it at the bottom of my profile. Alternatively, here is a link to it...  
**

**/s/8992317/1/Strike-Witches-Mini-Adventures**

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**Edits  
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******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

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**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	18. Chapter 18: Understanding

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 18: Understanding

May 2nd, 2012

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Kye had just finished explaining everything to the other witches when the God of Darkness, Zen, arrived in the Dream World.

After a brief back and forth between her and Zen, Kye made her move.

"So be it." She said as she vanished.

Kye moved at an incredible speed. In under a split second, she had jumped from the castle roof up to Zen and planted her fist in his gut. She moved so fast that even the god could not react.

Stunned from the previous blow, Zen was unable to block or counter the next attack. Kye twisted around in midair and landed a roundhouse kick to his chest, launching him backwards a great distance. She had knocked him clear across the kingdom walls.

She did not give him even a moment to breathe as she chased after him, closing the distance in under a second. He was flying upside down, so Kye hit him in the back with her knee and launched him even higher into the air.

She met him in midflight, and since he had flipped around from the blow of the previous attack, she pounded him in the back with both hands and shot him straight to the ground. He had flipped over again, so his back was facing the ground now.

Just before he hit the ground, Kye appeared above him, also in a downward motion, and planted her foot in his chest in a stomping motion with both of her hands on her knee pushing down to add even more force to the already intense attack.

Kye buried Zen in the ground and left a large crater around him. She floated up into the air to avoid getting covered in the dust that had been thrown up from the force of the attack.

"I couldn't even follow her movements..." Perrine said.

"I could only follow them with my magic." Minna added.

"A few of you already have seen her in action when she fought me." Yami said. "After unlocking more of her memories, she also unlocked more of her power. She is a lot stronger now than she was when I fought her. I had to hold back against her then, but now we would be able to spar like we did in the old days."

Her tone slowly changed from explanative to nostalgic as she spoke.

"And what are you capable of?" Minna asked.

"In the real world, I am on the same level as her and Yoshika." Yami said. "I can use the True Golden Aura and Zen Reppuzan as well."

"I thought the True Golden Aura was a once every five thousand year thing." Trude pointed out.

"For mortals, you could say that." Yami said quietly, almost too quietly. "Do keep in mind that the witch powers originally came from us."

"I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that." Erica added.

"In time it will sink in."

* * *

Zen managed to recover from Kye's overwhelming barrage of attacks rather quickly. As soon as he regained his senses, he launched a counter offensive in the form of several waves of dark energy, none of which landed.

Kye dodged every single wave and even launched several of her own in retaliation. The two shot waves of light and dark energy, respectively, at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, each formed a super condense ball of energy, respectively light or dark, and threw them at each other.

Yami move quickly, flying all the way to the kingdom wall just before the two attacks collided and threw her own super condense ball of energy. Yami's attack hit the other two as they neared collision and carried them off into the distance where they exploded violently.

The explosion was enormous, more so than anything the witches had seen in the real world, short of a nuclear explosion, although this one carried exponentially more energy. The blast radius extended high into the atmosphere and blew debris several kilometers in all directions.

After the dust cleared, a gigantic hole could be seen where a few large hills and small mountains, as well as other rocky outcrops, had been. The hole was several hundred meters deep and several kilometers wide.

Yami teleported back to the witches after gesturing for the two to take their fight further away from the kingdom walls.

The witches were in pure awe after seeing the destructive power of the three.

"Do you understand now?" Yami asked rhetorically. "Our power in the real world is a mere shadow of our true power. Zen has no limit in the real world, seeing how he is a god, but Kye and I can't access any more than perhaps ten percent of our power. I don't know the exact numbers, but you get the point."

Nobody could respond to such a statement. The witches, even Yoshika, were still trying to wrap their minds around what just happened.

After Kye and Zen moved further from the kingdom walls, Yami flew the witches to the top of the walls one by one until everyone was present. They had a good view of the fight.

The two combatants abandoned using energy waves to fight each other and resorted to melee combat with their katanas. The two traded blow after blow, generating shockwave after shockwave, but neither backed down, and neither showed any sign of fatigue or exhaustion.

After several minutes of parries and dodges, Kye finally managed to land a blow on Zen, even if it was a shallow cut that healed almost instantly. That single blow was all she needed.

Kye pulled the energy imprint off her blade and formed a ball of energy. After several seconds of strengthening the energy orb, she pointed it at Zen and gave him an ultimatum.

"You know what this attack is capable of, Zen." She said. "Leave my Dream World now, and you will not be on the receiving end of this."

"The Light Nova." Zen said.

Rei heard the name and immediately asked Yami about it.

"The Light Nova you know of is an extremely watered down variant that does not require an energy imprint." She explained. "This is the original version. Its power is so great that even a god cannot survive it unharmed. For any opponent less than a god, it would mean instant death."

"How so?" Rei asked.

"When she launches the attack from her hand, it travels at light speed. It cannot be dodged either, as it tracks its target until it hits, not that the target has time to react to it. The orb will hit the target and carry it into space before exploding. I don't know exactly how big the explosion is, but it's bigger than the planet. There is no escape. This technique was created by the Goddess of Light."

Zen stared at Kye as she held the immensely powerful ball of energy. He knew she wouldn't wait too long for an answer, so he reluctantly responded. "I suppose I am more surprised than impressed that you were able to even form that technique without your final lock opened. As powerful as I am, you are right. Even a god would be in a world of hurt on the receiving end of a full powered Light Nova. Yours may not be full powered, but it is powerful enough that I don't really want to get hit by it, so have it your way. But know this, you don't have a lot of time left. If you plan on saving the humans, you had better open the final lock and end the war soon. The neuroi will be making a big move soon, and don't forget about the Dark Witches. See you around, Kye." He vanished.

Kye lowered the super powered ball of energy and slowly dissipated it, being careful not to detonate it. Afterward, she teleported to the wall where the witches were gathered.

"I assume you have a good understanding now." She said as she struggled to stay on her feet.

"You haven't fought at that level in ages." Yami said. "You need to rest."

"Yeah, I do." Kye said as she clapped her hands, generating a bright flash of light.

After the light faded, everyone found themselves back in the briefing room.

Kye held her head as she stumbled back to the front and center of the room. "I trust that you all will keep all of what you just learned between us. I am taking measures to end this war peacefully, but we'll have to keep fighting for now. Just bear with it for a little while longer. Dismissed."

She didn't even make it to the door before she fell to her knees. Yoshika and Rei ran over to her immediately and helped her up.

"Thanks, girls." She said. "I feel so weak... I really overdid it when I generated that Light Nova. Can you help me to my bed?"

The two nodded as they put Kye's arms over their shoulders and walked her out of the room. The trip to their dormitory was rather noisy. Occasionally, a soldier would ask if they needed help, or what was wrong. They simply responded that Kye was hurt, need to rest, and that Yoshika would heal her.

Kye fell asleep almost instantly after lying down in bed.

* * *

Rei and Yoshika left her to sleep and went to find Mio again. Mio, Minna, and a handful of the other witches were still in the briefing room chatting about what they have learned.

Yami seemed to be the center of attention after everyone learned of her identity.

"So you are my Aunt?" Rei asked.

"And mine?" Yoshika added.

"Well sort of." Yami said. "I'm Kye's sister, so the short answer is yes, but the long answer is yes twice."

"Twice?" The two girls said together.

"This rebirth thing is kinda weird." Yami explained. "I'm her original self's sister, which is where this big family line started, and I'm her mortal self's sister, since her mortal self IS her original self reborn as a mortal. Thus I'm your Aunt two ways."

The girls looked at each other with confused expressions, but accepted that Yami was their Aunt either way. As soon as they were done, somebody else shot her a question.

"Are you immortal?" Trude asked.

"Well... sort of." Yami answered. "In a sense I am, but in reality I'm not. I can die, but not by natural causes. So long as I take care of myself... food, water, the essentials, I'll live forever and never age. I appear eighteen right now, but in reality I am ten thousand thirty eight years old."

"Incredible." Trude replied, somewhat speechless.

Yami turned her attention back to Yoshika, who gave her a startled look and said, "You are just like little Yusu."

Yusu, who was still in the room, said, "Me?"

"Oh, sorry, I mean the one you got your nickname from." Yami said. "Now that I think about it, you have similar traits as well. I've been watching all of you over the years."

She sparked everyone's interest.

"That's right. I watched when the Strike Witches were first formed. I watched when Yoshika grew curious about the humanoid neuroi, when Mio was injured by it, when Yoshika entered the hive, when you all fought the Warlock... everything. I was always there. Kye was watching in the early battles before she joined you, but she never knew I was also there. I can say this about every one of you. You are the true embodiment of what it means to be a witch. You care for others and use your power to protect that which you love, something Kye and I failed to do a long time ago. My question is, what will you do when you fight the Dark Witches? Ren only appeared as a warning. There are many more of them out there, and they are all strong, ranging from the same level as the majority of you to having a few at Rei's and Mio's level, as well as I think one at Yoshika and Kye's level. And don't forget the neuroi. What Zen said is true. There is a neuroi out there that is every bit as powerful as a witch with the True Golden Aura."

"How are we supposed to defeat that?" Minna asked.

"I hope you don't." Yami replied, sparking angry looks from a few witches. "But not for the reason that you apparently just concluded. I hope you find peace with them."

"Yes." Mio said. "She said that the gods would wipe out mankind if we won this war by means of destruction."

"Exactly." Yami said. "Now I have a question for the lot of you. Do you mind if I stay here with you for now?"

Mio and Minna traded agreeing glances. "Sure."

"There's an extra bed in our room." Rei said.

"That's right." Mio said. "You can stay with us."

"Thanks." Yami replied.

* * *

May 3rd, 2012

* * *

The witches slept soundly that night. Only the night witches set to patrol that night were out, Sanya and Eila included.

It was a rather quiet night, as would be expected after the big battle the day before. The two hummed with each other as they flew above the clouds.

It was an amazing sight. The near full moon lit the night sky brightly. Nothing was on the radar for as far as Sanya's Magic Antenna could detect, which had grown to quite a large range since 1945.

They relished the peaceful night and occasionally bumped into another night witch, whom they chatted with for a short time.

Just a few hours before dawn, the girls ran into a young witch, only fifteen years old, named Viktoriya. It was immediately apparent that she was an Orussian witch.

The girl had long, waist length light grey, almost white, hair and soft green eyes. She wore a grey uniform, skirt included. Her magic ability was clearly given away by her antenna, which was very similar to Sanya's in shape, but slightly smaller in size.

"Hello!" Eila greeted the girl openly. Sanya had an odd feeling upon seeing the girl, not one of hostility, but one of hospitality. "I'm First Lieutenant..."

"Eila Illmatar Juutilainen." The girl finished. "And First Lieutenant Sanya V. Litvyak. I know all about you two. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm First Lieutenant Aleksandra Viktoriya Kistanov, Tori for short, I go by my middle name. How are you liking the modern day?"

"It's... different to say the least." Eila said. "Some of us are still adapting, and being thrown straight into a war hasn't helped much."

"I heard about that from Ally. It must be hard. Well, hey, if you want any help with adjusting to modern technology, just find me on base. I'm stationed with the 511th Liberion Sect at Louisville with you."

"Wait, 511th?" Eila asked. "Then are you?..."

"Umm. Well." Tori stuttered. "Yes. My grandma was Brigadier General Anastasiya Viktoriya Litvyak."

"My Anna?" Sanya asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. Which that makes me your great granddaughter. Sorry I didn't tell you right away, I just..." She was interrupted by a hug from Sanya. Tori was surprised at first, but returned the hug. Eila couldn't help but smile until Sanya's next question.

"You said "was"." Sanya pointed out, leaving Tori instantly nervous.

"Uhh.. well.. crap." She said. "Maybe a different topic?"

Eila saw the result of the conversation and knew why she was avoiding it and understood, but Sanya wanted to know.

"Please!" Sanya asked. As strong willed as she was, even she couldn't hide the desperation in her voice.

"Grandma Anna died about ten years ago." Tori reluctantly explained. "I was only five."

Sanya didn't cry, but closed her eyes and remembered Anna as the little girl that she had seen only a couple months prior, to her at least. Tears finally welled up in her eyes as the thought of never seeing her beloved daughter again crossed her mind. Eila did her best to comfort her.

"I'm sorry." Tori said. "I barely knew her myself, but she was always a kind person. There's something that I'd like to show you. I have it in my room at the base if you'd be willing to come back with me for a moment. It would mean a lot."

"Sure." Sanya said as she cleared the tears from her eyes. Eila gave her a soft smile as the two follow the younger witch back to the base.

Tori had Sanya and Eila wait outside while she ran to her room to retrieve the item. When she came back outside and showed it to the girls, both gasped.

Tori held in her hands a small brown wooden box with two medals inside protected by glass. They were Eila's First Class Mannerheim Cross of Liberty and Sanya's Gold Star Medal from the award ceremony immediately following the final battle of Operation Worldwide Liberation.

"Great Aunt Aina told us that she had a vision of the Strike Witches returning some day and that I should keep this to show to you." Tori said. "She told me they were your medals from the end of Operation Worldwide Liberation. I've treasured them ever since."

"Great Aunt Aina as in my Aina?" Eila asked.

"Yes."

"Is she?... I mean..." Eila stuttered.

"She passed away a few years ago. She got sick, something incurable, and held on for a few years, but it finally got her three years ago. She wanted to hold on long enough to see you again."

Eila somehow knew it was true, but held on to hope as long as she could. She didn't cry, but a sad expression overcame her face.

"I know I can't replace Grandma Anna for you, Sanya, but I can still be here as your great granddaughter, if you'll have me."

Sanya only nodded. She was too happy to speak.

"And Miss Eila, I know somebody that would like to meet you, if that's okay." Tori said. "She's in the night sky tonight as well. She actually normally patrols with me, but we split up for a few minutes to cover more ground... we are supposed to meet back up pretty soon..."

"Tori, do you read?" A voice called through the intercom. "Where are you? I'm at the rendezvous point."

"I'm uhh... at the base. Stay there for a minute, I'm bringing somebody to you."

"Roger, but who is it?"

"You'll see!" Tori said excitedly.

"It better not be a fan girl."

"It's quite the opposite. See you soon." Tori gestured for Sanya and Eila to follow and lead them to a point above the clouds about twenty kilometers northeast of the base.

* * *

"No way!" The girl said. She was overly excited to see the veteran witches. "You found them?"

"Well, we more of just bumped into each other a little while ago." Tori said. "Go on, introduce yourself."

Sanya and Eila were slightly confused, but they knew the girl's identity. She was the splitting image of Eila, just a few centimeters shorter. Her hair and body type were virtually identical. The only real different was her face, which was more childlike. She even wore a modernized version of Eila's outfit, the colors were sharper and smaller, but twice as many, pockets on her belt.

"You must be my great granddaughter." Eila said before the girl had a chance to introduce herself.

"Eh? Uhh, y-yes! I-I am." She stuttered. "I am First Lieutenant Aina Inari Virtanen, named after Grandma Aina. I'm fourteen years old."

Eila pulled her into a hug before she could say anything else. "I'm happy to have you."

Aina's eyes grew teary upon being hugged by Eila.

"How did you get into the military so young?" Eila asked. "I though they wouldn't enlist anyone younger than eighteen now."

"Exceptions were made for all of the great granddaughters of the 501st." Tori said. "And also, we aren't only children. I have two brothers in the 511th European Sect."

"That's right." Aina said. "I have one brother and he's in the European Sect, too."

Sanya and Eila gave them surprised looks for a moment.

"What?" Tori asked.

"We're still not used to the idea of boy witches... or... wizards?" Eila said.

"Right." Tori said. "Well, we need to get back to our patrol. Can we hope to see you again at the base and in future night patrols?"

"You bet." Eila said as she took Sanya's hand. "We should get back to our patrol as well."

The girls split up again and resumed their respective patrol paths. Sanya and Eila, as well as Tori and Aina, had warm smiles on their faces for the rest of the night.

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Hyperspeed Combo** - Kye (Dream World / Realm of Light only. This is the first attack Kye used on Zen when she knocked him over the kingdom walls)

**Darkness Wave** - Zen (Dark version of the Light Wave used by Kye and Rei)

**Goddess's Light Nova** - Kye (Dream World / Realm of Light only. This technique was not actually used, even though it was charged and ready.)

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**First Lieutenant Aleksandra Viktoriya Kistanov** - Great Granddaughter to Sanya V Litvyak and Granddaughter to Anastasiya Viktoriya Litvyak. (Her mother's maiden name is Litvyak, but married a man named Kistanov.) She goes by her middle name, Viktoriya, or Tori for short. She is a member of the 511th Liberion Sect.

**First Lieutenant Aina Inari Virtanen** - Great Granddaughter to Eila Illmatar Juutilainen and Granddaughter to Aina Illmatar Juutilainen. (Her mother's maiden name is Juutilainen, but married a man named Virtanen. She is a member of the 511th Liberion Sect

**Unnamed oldest brother of Tori** - Great Grandson to Sanya V Litvyak and Grandson to Anastasiya Viktoriya Litvyak. He is a member of the 511th European Sect.

**Unnamed second oldest brother of Tori **- Great Grandson to Sanya V Litvyak and Grandson to Anastasiya Viktoriya Litvyak. He is a member of the 511th European Sect.

**Unnamed older brother of Aina **- Great Grandson to Eila Illmatar Juutilainen and Grandson to Aina Illmatar Juutilainen. He is a member of the 511th European Sect.

* * *

**Kye and Zen duked it out in the Dream World and the Strike Witches are caught up to the "behind the scenes" information. Kye seems to have worn herself out using such a high level technique like the Goddess's Light Nova.**

**Yami has joined forces with the witches. She has plans that will help all of them, but what could they be?**

**Sanya and Eila have met two of their great grandchildren and learned of their daughter's deaths. So far we know that Minna's daughter, Sanya's daughter, and Eila's daughter has died. I haven't decided how many of the others are still living, but it's likely that one or two more will have died and the rest alive. Also, the rest of the great grandchildren, both genders, will slowly make their appearances in the story. All of the Liberion Sect will appear by the end of the Liberion Arc. I do not know how many more chapters will appear in the Liberion Arc, but there will be AT LEAST two more after this chapter.  
**

**Until next week!**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**********4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	19. Chapter 19: A Witch Can, Wait, a Wizard?

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 19: A Witch can... wait, a Wizard?

May 20th, 2012

* * *

Two and a half weeks had passed since Kye woke up from her "Dream World" coma. The 501st and 511th Fuso Sect hadn't spoken a word of what they learned to anyone outside of themselves in that time.

Eila later talked to Kye privately about her vision. Kye didn't know what to think about it, but suspected that the mysterious figure would show himself or herself eventually. She told Eila to immediately let her know if she had any more visions, which the latter agreed to.

* * *

Sanya and Eila met their great granddaughters, learned of their great grandsons, and were told of the deaths of their daughters. Neither took their daughter's deaths easy, but they did their best to look past it and see the great grandchildren in front of them.

Sanya, Eila, Tori, and Aina always meet up sometime during the night and flew together since their initial meeting. Eila would tell the younger witches stories of her and Sanya's time in the Second Neuroi War, and the younger two would share their stories of the current war and of their childhood.

* * *

Sanya and Eila weren't the only witches with great grandchildren in the 511th Liberion Sect, however. Minna and Shirley each had a great granddaughter who they talked to as often as possible.

The two briefly met with the younger witches the day they arrived in Liberion, but didn't get much time to talk. Just as with the other Strike Witches that had meet their great granddaughters, Minna and Shirley both preferred to go by first names instead of "grandma" and such.

It was Sunday, and many witches had the day off, but as always had to be ready for an emergency sortie at any time. Thankfully, Air Bands solved the issue relatively well, as they significantly increased response time over the Striker Unit.

Allison, who preferred to go by her nickname Ally, and Alina invited Minna and Shirley to go eat at a diner not far from the base. The diner had a very clear wooden theme to it. The floors were some sort of hardwood, dark brown in color, while the walls and ceiling were a lighter shade. The tables and chairs were all wood, and looked quite old.

Shirley ordered steak. "I haven't had a steak in a while."

"You're in luck!" Ally said. "Their steaks are amazing." She turned to the waitress and told her that she also wanted a steak. "Well done, please."

Both Alina and Minna liked the sound of steaks, so they ordered the same, but varied their preference of how thoroughly they wanted them cooked.

Their food was brought out fairly quickly.

"So, we wanted to keep it a surprise, but I can't wait any longer." Ally said as she dug a fork and knife into her steak.

"Oh?" Minna wondered aloud.

"What's up?" Shirley asked.

Ally and Alina traded smiles before looking back to the veteran witches and spoke together, "Our brothers are coming back!"

"Jaden?" Shirley gasped.

"And Johan?" Minna followed.

"That's right!" Ally said.

"Ever since about a week before you and the others arrived here, they've been gone to a Liberion base further north..." She looked back to Ally, What was the name again? I get these bases mixed up."

"It's one of the bigger bases. It's actually not too far from here, but they have been mega busy. It's the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio."

"Were Lucy and Leo coming back today, too?"

"Yeah."

"Who are they?" Shirley asked.

"They are both Lucchini's." Ally said.

"As in Francesca Lucchini's great granddaughters?" Minna asked.

"That's right!" Alina said. "And they are both really good."

"Lucchini will be so happy." Shirley said as she tore into her steak.

"They should be arriving shortly after we get back to the base." Ally said. "Maybe we can..." She was cut off by a beeping on her wristband. She activated her intercom and immediately went into witch-mode. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus, state the emergency."

"Neuroi have been sighted about two hundred kilometers east of the base, any and all witches available are engage as soon as possible." A radio soldier reported; it was a male voice.

Allison left money on the table and ran toward the door, followed immediately by Minna and Shirley. Alina informed the waitress of the emergency and apologized for the trouble before joining the others.

"Give me numbers, give me classes, anything you have." Ally commanded.

"We have no information on classes yet, but there are reportedly between seventy and one hundred neuroi. The odd thing is they aren't headed toward our base. Their trajectory is slightly to the south."

"Their target is probably Lexington." Ally said. "Get as many in the air as you can, I'm heading to the base with Lieutenant Wilcke, General Wilcke, and Captain Yeager to pick up our weapons."

"Roger."

The rest of the flight back to the base was quiet, save the wind noise. As soon as the four arrived back at the base, they retrieved their weapons from the hangar, Minna grabbing her glaive and gun, Shirley grabbing her new enchanted battle rifle, Ally grabbing her own enchanted battle rifle, and Alina grabbing her double edged poleaxe and gun.

Ever since the 501st returned, it had become almost a requirement that witches and wizards learn to use some sort of melee weapon in combat.

After equipping themselves, the four hurried out of the hangar and quickly met up with Mio, Rei, Erica, Trude, and Lucchini.  
"What about the others?" Minna asked as she flew up next to Mio.

"The 511th Fuso girls, including Louise, are all drained from training today." Mio said.

"Yoshika, Perrine, and Lynne trained them, and subsequently drained, too." Rei added.

"I know Sanya, Eila, and their granddaughters are sleeping, but that leaves Kye and Yami." Minna said.

"Both are gone." Mio said. "They left for Europe this morning at an extremely high altitude."

"What are they doing?"

"HQ in Britannia called for Kye. It seems they are promoting her, and Yami wanted to go with her."

"Are they making her a five star again?"

"Not this time, but something else. You know that she is the Supreme Commander of the Joint Fighter Wings, right? Well, there are only a few Joint Fighter Wings left. Us, the 511th, 512th, and 513th, the 511th being the biggest, having three smaller wings alone. The 502nd through 508th were back in our time, and the 509th and 510th were active during our daughter's time in the sixties and seventies."

"In short, compared to the total witches and wizards in the world, the Joint Fighter Wings are a very small minority, albeit probably the most experienced."

"Right. They are making her not only the Supreme Commander of the Joint Fighter Wings, but also of the World Witch Corps and each Nation Witch Corps."

"I see." Minna said. "Knowing her, we may see more Joint Fighter Wings pop up around the world."

"It's definitely a possibility."

"Where are the 512th and 513th wings stationed?"

"I don't know. I just heard about them today." Mio said.

"I know." Ally piped up, she directed her attention at Minna at first. "You remember the base I mentioned earlier?"

"The one to the north of here?" Minna asked.

"Yes." Ally said. "That actually is where the 512th is stationed. My brother and the others were up there helping out until more of their forces returned from even further north. That base had sent too many witches away and were left shorthanded, so I sent a few of us up there."

"What about the 513th?"

"They are stationed in Soumus, not far from the European 511th."

Before anyone else could add to the conversation, Alina interrupted them, "Heads up, neuroi ahead!"

* * *

"Alina hang back and direct our attacks." Ally ordered before turning to Minna and Mio, "Objections?"

"That's fine." The two Generals said together.

Alina closed her eyes and concentrated her magic on her Area Analysis ability. "I'm counting one hundred and twenty neuroi in the immediate area and another eighty several kilometers behind them. None of these are above Class Five. The biggest group is to the right, so we should send the more experienced witches that way."

"Trude, Erica, and Rei?" Mio suggested.

"Good plan." Minna said as the three witches agreed and flew off toward their destination.

"The middle is the weakest, only two veteran witches should be needed for that." Alina continued.

"Us?" Mio suggest to Minna.

"Let's go." She said as she took off with Mio.

"That leaves the left to us." Shirley said to Lucchini and Ally.

"As the battle progresses, I'll update everyone from above." Alina said as she flew upward, leaving the other three to their thing.

* * *

The neuroi were rather weak, but high in numbers. Erica, Trude, and Rei tore through the neuroi on their side rather quick with only their guns, and still had about half of their ammo left. The other two teams had similar results.

"That was too easy." Trude commented with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"You are right, Major Barkhorn." Alina said. "That was too easy. The hard part is coming ahead. The eighty neuroi I mentioned earlier are almost to your position, and I've detected another wave even further back. I'm currently trying to get a read on their numbers and strength."

"What about the closer neuroi?" Erica asked.

"They are Class Six and Seven." Alina said. "They are coming in one large group, so I recommend area attacks if anyone has such an ability."

"Me." Lucchini volunteered. "I've been working on my Explosion Fragmentations. I might be able to get them all in one shot if they are close enough together."

"Wh..What?" Alina gasped.

"I've got your back." Erica said before gesturing for Trude to follow her.

"Same here." Shirley added as she flew over toward her black haired Romagnan friend. "Ally, you too. I have an idea."

"What is it?" Ally said.

"I'm going to throw Lucchini at them, and she's going to fly at full speed." Shirley suggested. "Can you effect the speed of other things yet?"

"Yes." Ally said.

"Good." Shirley continued. "Focus your magic on her, and we'll both boost her speed."

"This will be fun!" Lucchini squealed as the five witches rocketed toward the Neuroi.

Mio, Minna, and Rei stayed back and watched as the others attacked.

Shirley threw Lucchini, and boosted her speed with Ally's help, sending her flying at an incredible speed. Lucchini threw up her shield as she tore through the mass of neuroi, leaving several explosive charges throughout the pack.

As her charges exploded, Lucchini magically controlled and fragmented them. Soon, the entire neuroi mass was covered in explosions. Only a few loose neuroi managed to survive, but that was soon corrected by Trude and Erica gunning them down. Lucchini seemed out of breath, but still had a lot of magic power left.

"Good job." Mio said. "What about the next wave?"

"They are just now entering my detection range." Alina reported.

Minna flew over to her and grabbed her hand. The two used their Area Analysis abilities in synch and were able to count and classify the incoming neuroi accurately.

"Four hundred fifty neuroi." Alina started.

"One hundred eighty five Class Two." Minna added.

"One hundred Class Three." Alina continued.

"Seventy five Class Four."

"Forty Class Five."

"Twenty five Class Six."

"Fifteen Class Seven."

"Seven Class Eight."

"And Three Class Nine." The two said together.

"Two are colossal size neuroi, and one is a humanoid, likely leading them." Minna finished.

"What about the Class Eight neuroi?" Mio asked. "Are they super large, humanoid, or what?"

"Three are humanoid, four are multi-core super large type." Alina said. "And of the Class Seven, eight are humanoid and seven are single-core super large type. The Class Four through Six are all medium and large types."

"Some of the Class Six Large Type are the type that split into drones." Minna added.

"That's quite a lot." Mio said. "Rei and I can handle the colossal sized ones, but it will take a bit of effort."

"We need to take out as many of the small fry as quick as possible." Rei said. "Lucchini, can you do another frag run?"

"Yeah." The Romagnan witch answered.

"Erica, can you and Trude focus on the Super Large types? Either single or multi core variants?" Rei asked.

The two Karlslander witches nodded.

"We should exhaust our ammo on the small neuroi, then start using our advanced magic on the larger ones." Rei said. "Trude, you can probably take out a good number of the small neuroi with your dual guns alone, right?"

"Yeah."

"Anyone else have any input?" Rei asked.

"No time, incoming beams!" Alina yelled.

Rei responded quickly, using multiple green shields to reflect most of the beams. Luckily, the reflected beams tore through a lot of their sources.

"You destroyed a handful of the smaller neuroi, five large, and two super large with that." Minna said before noticing another wave of beams, likely delayed from the neuroi further back. "Incoming again!"

Rei threw up several red shields to absorb the beams, but instead of releasing them, she drew their energy into a ball above her head. She activated her white aura to further enhance the energy and added a mixture of light and dark magic to the pool. The ball of mixed energy and magic pulsated. It was unstable.

"That's dangerous!" Mio said. "That's too much energy, even with the white aura."

"This is just what we need to thin their numbers." Rei said. "The risk is worth it, but if I had your help, the risk would be small."

Mio reluctantly flew over to Rei and channeled some of her own magic to the girl, stabilizing the ball of power Rei held above her head.

She brought the ball down in front of her and launched it forward. "HAAA!" The force of the power ball launching forward threw the two Fuso witches back a few meters.

Without Rei to managed the size anymore, the ball gained in size, roughly to two hundred meters in diameter, and engulfed several of the incoming neuroi. The ball continued until it met a strong enough opposition to set it off... one of the colossal sized neuroi.

Upon making contact with one of the giant neuroi, it exploded with a deafening sound similar to a nuclear warhead. The shockwave generated from the explosion destroy any neuroi below class six that were relatively close and knocked back everything else. Even the second colossal sized neuroi was thrown to the side, albeit unharmed save a few minor cracks that were already regenerating by the time it leveled out.

The witches were in awe at the impact of the attack.

"Impressive." Mio said.

"Amazing." Ally added.

"Wow..." Alina gasped.

"You destroyed about half of their forces with that, but mostly just the weaker half. That will save on ammo quite a bit at least." Minna said. "You did destroy one of the colossal size neuroi and a few super large."

"That should make our job easier." Mio said as she turned to look at a now panting Rei. The girl had used far more magic power than she should have. "Are you okay?"

Rei faded her aura down to the blue level before answering. "I'm okay, but I won't be able to help you with the other big one."

"Don't worry, I'm going to hit it hard where it hurts." Mio said. "A full powered Reppuzan under the white aura aimed at its core should be the end of it. I should still have enough magic left after that to fight the humanoid, too."

"I can probably join you after I rest for a moment." Rei said as she descended toward the forest covered ground. "I'm going down to the ground to save on magic."

"Alright." Mio drew her Reppumaru, intent on taking out the remaining colossal neuroi. The only problem was the couple hundred neuroi still in her way.

* * *

'Can I make it in time?' A white haired witch thought to herself as she rocketed over the land at an ultra-high altitude. Yami went to Britannia with Kye, but had an eerie feeling and turned back early. She had an enormous reserve of magic power, having barely even dented it with two full trips over the Atlantic Ocean in a single day at full speed.

Just like Kye, Yami had a higher power in the Dream World and Realm of Light, but also like Kye, she was vastly limited in the real world. She had the capacity to use the any of the three stage six auras, and did not care to hide the fact, as she was flying using the True Golden Aura to boost her speed.

Despite the phenomenal speed she was flying, she still had a lot of ground to cover, having just arrived in the skies over Liberion.

* * *

Yami wasn't the only person heading toward the battle. A group of six was also inbound, and were much closer.

"You think we'll get there before they clean it up?" The only female of the six asked.

"If we haul ass." A brown, short, curly haired boy of about eighteen years answered.

* * *

"HAA!" Trude pounded a large neuroi just as it fired beams every which way, knocking it around just enough to cause it to beam down a few smaller neuroi.

"Neat trick." Erica said just before barreling through a number of medium type neuroi, ending with destroying one large type with her signature Sturm.

"How many left?" Mio asked.

"Eighty two Class Two, sixty seven Class Three, fifty four Class Four, twenty eight Class Five, nineteen Class Six, twelve Class Seven, five Class Eight, and two Class Nine." Alina reported. "Totaling two hundred sixty nine left."

"I'll cut that number down." Lucchini proclaimed as she rocketed into the neuroi masses. She left fewer explosive charges than normal and only on large type neuroi. It was soon apparent what she was doing, however. Each explosive charge had more power. She fragmented each charge six times, demolishing every neuroi caught in the blasts.

Taking advantage of the confusion caused by Lucchini's attack, Trude barreled in, followed soon by Erica, Shirley, and Ally, with guns ablaze.

Some of the neuroi split into several smaller drones, but that only fed the kill score.

* * *

'Just hold out for five more minutes!' Yami, flying at a speed of about three and a half times the speed of sound, still had a fairy distance to cover.

* * *

The witches finally exhausted their ammo. There were no Class Two, Three, or Four neuroi left, and only a handful of Five and Six.

Shirley and Trude teamed up to finish off the remaining few Class Five and Six. The former would virtually halt the neuroi with her speed control, allowing the latter to hit it with a full force blow with her enchanted gauntlets.

All that remained was six Class Seven, three Class Eight, and two Class Nine neuroi.

The witches attempted to assault the Class Seven, but were bombarded with beams from the colossal neuroi. Mio couldn't get an opening with all the other neuroi protecting it, so the colossal neuroi still floated in place.

While the witches defended against the onslaught of neuroi beams, Alina sensed six new combatants entering the battle.

One was a burly man carrying an abnormally large battle hammer. He had short brown hair and wore a modernized male variant of Trude's uniform.

Another was a normal sized, yet still very fit, man sporting blonde hair and a modernized male variant of Erica's uniform. He carried a Glaive in addition to his issued gun.

To the left of the blonde haired man were fraternal twins, one wearing a modernized variant of Lucchini's uniform and the other wearing a male variant. The two were not far the same size, but the man was more muscular whereas the girl was slender. Both sported jet black hair, although only the girl had any length to it. Her hair style was identical to Lucchini's. Neither carried a weapon outside of their standard issue guns.

To the right of the burly man flew a man about equal size to the blonde haired man. He sported deep red hair, just like Alina and Minna, was physically fit, and carried a glaive in addition to his standard issue gun.

Further to the right was the last of the six, also a man. He carried a gun identical to Ally's enchanted battle rifle. He had short light brown hair and a body equally as fit as the others, aside the overly large burly man in the lead.

"They're here!" Alina announced as the six engaged the neuroi.

"TAKE THIS!" The burly man yelled as he slammed a single core super large neuroi with his overly large hammer, shattering it into nothing, core and all, and earning Trude's attention.

"That's Colonel Leonhardt Barkhorn." Alina said. "He prefers to go by Lion. He is the Commander of the 511th Liberion Sect and is the great grandson of Major Gertrude Barkhorn."

The blonde haired man rocketed toward his target, also a single core super large type. He held his glaive outward and spun around as he closed in on the neuroi and released a torrent of air, greatly resembling Erica's Sturm attack. The neuroi stood no chance against the attack.

"That's Captain Friedrich Hartmann." Alina said. "He prefers to go by Fried and is the great grandson of Lieutenant Erica Hartmann."

The Romagnan twins simultaneously attacked their own targets using Lucchini's Sunlight Strike and Explosion Strike, leaving behind a single charge each to destroy the neuroi.

"They are the twin Lieutenants, Luciana and Leonardo Lucchini." Alina continued. "Their nicknames are Lucy and Leo, respectively, and are Lieutenant Francesca Lucchini's great grandchildren."

The short light brown haired main moved in to attack his own target, but instead of using a flashier move, he simply modified the speed of his target. He slowed the body, but sped up the core, causing the core to launch out of the body, giving him an open shot, which he flawlessly took. Seconds later, his target shattered into white fragments.

"That's my brother, Major Jaden Ventus." Ally announced. "And of course he is also Captain Shirley's great grandson."

The last of the six didn't even move toward his target. He simply held his hand out and closed it in a fist. The neuroi simultaneously shattered into nothing, leaving Minna to suspect that he belonged to her family, which Alina soon confirmed.

"And he is my brother, Lieutenant Colonel Johan Wilcke." Alina said. "He has already mastered the Area Destruction ability, as he just displayed. Needless to say, like me, he inherited his ability from our great grandmother Minna Wilcke."

The five wizards and single witch flew over to the witches after destroying their targets.

The burly man, Lion, greeted the witches, and spoke in a rather deep tone. "Pleased to meet ya."

"Likewise." Trude said. "That was a rather impressive display for witches and wizards of the modern day."

"That's just the appetizers." Lion replied. "The main course is about to get served."

"Let's get to serving." Trude said as she offered her hand to the burly man.

He shook her hand, both putting a large amount of force into, trying to one up each other.

"Save the competition for later." Mio said. "We have a job to do."

"Roger." Everyone said together as Mio lead the attack.

"The last remaining Class Eight are all multi-core super large types." Alina announced. "I want to see Trude, Lion, Minna and Johan taking on the one to the upper left. Erica and Fried should take the one in the middle. The three Lucchinis should take the one to the far right. I want Shirley, Ally, and Jaden modifying their movements to create openings. Shirley hit Trude's, Ally hit Erica's, and Jaden hit Lucchini's."

"Roger." The various witches and wizards said.

While the others dealt with the remaining Class Eight neuroi, Mio moved in for her attack on the colossal neuroi. She pinpointed the core, but had to weave through incoming beams. She couldn't attack for defending, until a barrage of shields popped up in front of her.

"Rei!" Mio took the opportunity to launch a full powered Reppuzan at the core's location within the colossal neuroi. Upon landing the blow, the neuroi shattered in a deafening sound, throwing white fragments everywhere.

Her timing was perfect, as the others finished off their targets at the same time.

This left only the single Class Nine humanoid neuroi left.

"Everyone, keep your distance, this neuroi is likely an elite like Xala, Xelia, and Xia." Mio said.

"You would be right, Mio Sakamoto." The neuroi responded. "I'm not so certain on your claim that I'm Class Nine, however."

"I remember Xan's power." Mio stated. "You aren't as powerful as him, so there's no way you can be Class Ten."

"Regardless, I am at a higher level than the three you named off." The neuroi said. "I am Commander Xeon. Feel free to come at me if death is your desire."

'Made it!' Yami had just arrived, and was rapidly descending.

"Who's that?" Alina said as she pointed up.

"Reppuzan!" Yami launched a Reppuzan straight down at the neuroi.

"What?!" Xeon barely had any time to dodge. The attack decimated the neuroi's right half, missing his core by a hair.

Rei took it upon herself to deliver the finishing blow and flew in with her white aura active and sword in hand.

The neuroi regenerated quickly and countered Rei, knocking her sword from her hand. He fired a point blank super condensed beam at the girl, piercing her aura, as well as tearing a small hole through her body just above the stomach and below the right breast.

"REI!" Mio screamed as she flew in toward the neuroi. Yami knocked Xeon away with kick to the head just as Mio caught the now heavily bleeding Rei. The beam only seared a hole a few centimeters wide through her body, but that was enough to put her in shock.

"Mio, get her out of here. Take her to Yoshika immediately. That beam pierced her right lung toward the bottom." Yami ordered.

Mio didn't even need to hear Yami said that for her to rush the girl off to the base. She did glance back just in time to see Yami unleash an overwhelming attack on Xeon.

"Mahou Shinten Taiho!" Yami yelled before launching an immense blue beam of magic, greatly resembling a neuroi beam, at Xeon. The beam was far too fast for him to dodge. After the beam dissipated, not even white fragments were left of the elite humanoid neuroi.

Rei was conscious enough to see the attack, but had no reaction due to her shock. Everyone else was in awe, even Mio, but that didn't stop her from speeding off toward the base.

* * *

"Kye, you need to get back here, now." Minna said over the radio to the blonde haired Fuso woman.

"Why, what's up?"

"Your daughter... she's been..." Minna said slowly.

"What about her? What happened?" Kye asked, sounding somewhat frantic.

"She got hit." Minna said. "A high level humanoid neuroi pierced her aura with a super condensed beam. It was no bigger around than a finger, yet it tore through her aura and pierced her lung just below her right breast. The bleeding hasn't stopped yet. We just got her back to the base. Yoshika is hurrying over to the infirmary to heal her as we speak, but I don't know if she can heal this."

Kye's voice was suddenly very cold. "I'm on my way." She dropped her receiver and ran out of the door. She was in the air and out of sight in seconds, leaving behind a sonic boom only meters above the ground.

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

Area Analysis - Alina

Magic Ability: Speed Boost - Allison (Implied

Ultimate Ability: Speed Control - Allison

Ultimate Augmentation - Fragmentation - Lucchini (Increased Fragments to a maximum of six.)

Multiple Red Shields - Rei

Mixed Magic Bomb (Neuroi Energy, Light Magic, Dark Magic) - Rei (This attack is highly draining on the user.)

True Golden Aura - Yami

Light Aura - Yami (Mentioned)

Dark Aura - Yami (Mentioned)

Magic Ability: Super Strength - Lion (Implied)

Ultimate Ability: Ultimate Strength - Lion

Magic Ability: Sturm - Fried (Implied)

Ultimate Ability: Great Sturm - Fried (Implied)

Ultimate Variation: Glaive Sturm - Fried

Magic Ability: Sunlight Strike - Lucy and Leo

Ultimate Ability: Explosion Strike - Lucy and Leo

Combination Attack - Sunlight Strike + Explosion Strike - Lucy and Leo

Magic Ability: Speed Boost - Jaden (Implied)

Ultimate Ability: Speed Control - Jaden

Area Analysis - Johan (Implied)

Area Destruction - Johan

Reppuzan - Yami

Magic Ability: Magic Blast - Yami (Implied)

Ultimate Ability: Enhanced Magic Blast - Yami (Implied)

Ultimate Technique: Mahou Shinten Taiho (Magic Heaven Shaking Grand Cannon) - Yami

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Colonel Leonhardt "Lion" Barkhorn** - Commander of the 511th Liberion Sect. 20 Years Old, Grandson of Seiglinde "Linda" Barkhorn, and Great Grandson of Gertrude Barkhorn. He carries an abnormally large Enchanted Battle Hammer, and is an active Wizard.

**Captain Friedrich "Fried" Hartmann** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 19 Years Old, Grandson of Isabel "Bell" Hartmann, and Great Grandson of Erica Hartmann. He carries an Enchanted Glaive and is an active Wizard.

**First Lieutenant Luciana "Lucy" Lucchini II** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 17 Years Old, Granddaughter of Luciana "Lucy" Lucchini I, and Great Granddaughter of Francesca Lucchini. She uses Enchanted Gloves and is an active Witch.

**First Lieutenant Leonardo "Leo" Lucchini** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 17 Years Old, Granddaughter of Luciana "Lucy" Lucchini I, and Great Granddaughter of Francesca Lucchini. Fraternal Twin of Lucy. He uses Enchanted Gloves and is an active Wizard.

**Major Jaden Ventus** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 16 Years Old, Grandson of Allison Yeager (Maternal), Grandson of General Ventus (Paternal), and Great Grandson of "Shirley" Charlotte E. Yeager (Maternal). Younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel Ally. He carries an Enchanted Battle Rifle and is an active Wizard.

**Lieutenant Colonel Johan Wilcke** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 18 Years Old, Grandson of Alina Wilcke I (Deceased(, and Great Grandson of Minna Dietlinde Wilcke. Older brother of Lieutenant Alina. He carries an Enchanted Glaive and is an active Wizard.

**Commander Xeon** - Class Nine Elite Humanoid Neuroi, nearly Class Ten. Killed by Yami.

* * *

**Previously Introduced Characters in the 511th Liberion Sect.  
**

**First Lieutenant Alina Wilcke II** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 16 Years Old, Granddaughter to Alina Wilcke I (Deceased), and Great Granddaughter to Minna Dietlinde Wilcke. Younger Sister of Lieutenant Colonel Johan. She carries an Enchanted Glaive and is an active Witch.

**Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus** - Battle Commander of the 511th Liberion Sect. 19 Years Old, Granddaughter to General Ventus (Paternal), Granddaughter to Allison Yeager (Maternal), Great Granddaughter of Charlotte E. Yeager (Maternal). Older Sister of Major Jaden Ventus. She carries an Enchanted Battle Rifle and is an active Witch.

**First Lieutenant "Tori" Aleksandra Viktoriya Kistanov** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 16 Years Old, Granddaughter to Anastasiya Viktoriya Litvyak (Deceased), and Great Granddaughter to Sanya V Litvyak. Her mother's maiden name is Litvyak, but married a man with the surname Kistanov. She goes by her middle name, Viktoriya, or Tori for short. She carries an Enchanted Mace and is a Witch.

**First Lieutenant Aina Inari Virtanen** - Member of the 511th Liberion Sect. 16 Years Old, Granddaughter to Aina Illmatar Juutilainen, and Great Granddaughter to Eila Illmatar Juutilainen. Her mother's maiden name is Juutilainen, but married a man with the surname Virtanen. She carries and Enchanted Staff is an active Witch.

* * *

**All of the 511th Liberion Sect have been introduced now. I even put in a section to cover the previously introduced 511th Liberion members below the new ones. Wizards have finally made an appearance, and one is a freakin' giant with a giant hammer! Lion! He takes after Trude doesn't he? Just as a note, Lion and Fried are completely new OCs that have not appeared in my original work, although they will likely be added to that at some point. The rest of the great grandchildren of the 501st are all members of the 511th European Sect, and there are even a few of their parents in there, although the parents are no longer allowed on the front lines.**

**The next chapter could possibly be the finale of the Liberion Arc, or I could extend the Liberion Arc past the ten chapter mark. I'm not sure yet. But we'll find out next week!**

**I spend hours trying to come up with the name for Yami's beam attack, Mahou Shinten Taiho (Magic Heaven Shaking Grand Cannon), with an accurate translation. I am very positive it is accurate, but if there are any actual experts out there... feel free to contact me about it.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**********4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	20. Chapter 20: Liberion Offensive

Strike Witches: Return

Liberion Arc

Chapter 20: Liberion Offensive

May 20th, 2012

* * *

Kye arrived at the base in under an hour and a half of leaving the headquarters in Britannia. She made record shattering time, considering that the distance was about sixty five hundred kilometers. She traveled at almost five thousand kilometers per hour, or Mach 4.

She panicked after landing. She could sense Rei's magic power any other time from a fair distance away, but now she couldn't sense it at all. She could sense everyone else, so her senses weren't lying to her either.

"REI!" Kye yelled as she barged into the infirmary. She had broken a silence that has fallen over the last several minutes.

Mio was leaning up against the wall to the right with Minna directly to her left and Yami directly to her right. Trude and Eric were sitting in chairs next to the door with Lion and Friend standing next to them. Yoshika was sitting in a chair pulled up to the bed. She had her face buried in her arms leaning on the bed.  
Kye could hear Yoshika crying as she walked in. Everyone looked away as Kye slowly walked over to the bed that held her daughter.

"Fill me in." She said quietly.

Not even Mio wanted to tell her. Kye tried her best to ignore their silent answer and placed her ear to her daughter's chest.  
Nothing...

All of the color in Kye's face immediately vanished as she dropped to her knees in front of Rei's bed.

Yoshika could barely manage a whisper, but did her best to speak, "I put in all of my magic and then some."

"We fed her magic to use." Mio said. "All of us."

Kye looked around at everyone. She didn't even need to sense their magic power to know they were exhausted. Their faces betrayed them on that matter. Even Yami had only a small amount of magic power left.

The edges of Mio's eyes had a slight red tint to them, likely from wiping tears away, as did the other witches. Lion and Fried looked normal, but they were doing their best to be strong for the others.

"Rei..." Yoshika muttered between tears. She rose up, finally allowing Kye to see her face. She had been silently crying her heart out.

Kye bent down over her daughter again, putting her ear to the girl's chest, hoping to hear even the faintest heartbeat.

"Not again..." Kye said softly, barely managing to hold back her own tears.

"I healed her body." Yoshika laid her head back down in her arms. "There's no wound, no internal damage, nothing... yet her heart stopped and her magic signature is gone. I can't sense even the slightest pulse from her magic."

Kye placed her hand on Rei's forehead and held it there for a few moments. "She hasn't lost any of her color yet, and her body is still warm." That was all the resolve she needed.

The room fell perfectly silent, waiting for Kye's response. She didn't speak, however, but started removing her Air Bands.

"I can't do this while wearing these. They would just overload again."

"Kye, you can't mean to do that?" Yami said, doubt in her voice.

"There's no other way." Kye walked over to the door, opened it, and found several witches standing outside, waiting on the news. She looked around, hoping to find a certain witch. "Layla, are you here?"

There was movement to the right, just outside Kye's line of sight. "I'm here."

"Come in please."

As Layla entered the room, Kye's plan dawned on Yami. "I see what you are doing. Creation Magic."

"Yes, but that's not everything." Kye closed the door and stood in the middle of the room. "All of you stay still. Do not move an inch."

She earned confused glances, but considering the situation, nobody disobeyed.

Kye released her magic power and formed the first golden aura. As her magic power increased, so did her aura. It changed from a dull golden to green, then blue, then dark red, then white, then a brilliant golden, but she didn't stop until her aura turned completely silver.

Lion and Friend had never seen Kye's power before and were in awe at the immense power generated by the woman. The air in the room became heavy. It took everything the witches had to remain standing, at least those who were standing to begin with.

Kye hovered her right hand over Rei's body for a moment. "I can feel it, but just barely. Her life energy is almost undetectable even with this."

"What are you doing?" Mio asked. She received no direct answer, but would soon know.

"Layla, please remain in the room until I am finished." Kye said. "Normally, advanced magic such as your Creation or Destruction magic or Kaylie's Time and Space magic cannot be completely copied. Only the very basics, but with my Zen Aura, I can fully copy any magic. I need your Creation Magic to accomplish what I want to do."

"Yes, ma'am." The girl remained still, allowing Kye to replicate her Creation abilities.

"Rei's body is completely healed." Kye continued. "While her body was in a mortally wounded state, her magic power depleted to prevent her life energy from fading. If her life energy depletes, she dies, and she doesn't have much left. Yoshika's healing could not revive her, but it could postpone her death. Creation Magic is the source of healing magic. Yoshika, being a Miyafuji descended from Yuko, therefore carrying the blood of the Akari Royal Family, gained a lesser form of creation magic that combined with the healing magic gained from her Akimoto family, thus rendering her the most powerful healer in the world. As powerful as it may be, Yoshika's healing magic cannot restore life energy."

She moved her hand to and hovered it just above Rei's body, soon engulfing it in the silvery aura as well. Kye poured magic power into Rei's body and, using Creation Magic, merged it with her life energy, allowing her life energy to regenerate. After some of her life energy was built up, the Creation Magic started splitting the intake of magic power received from Kye to both restore Rei's life energy and her own magic power.

After several minutes, enough life energy and magic power had been restored that it started rebuilding itself without the help of the Creation Magic, prompting Kye to stop the treatment and allow Rei to finish recovering naturally.

Kye dismissed her aura and fell to her knees in front of the bed, breathing hard. "That... was... hard." She managed between breaths.

In just moments, she felt the bed jerk slightly and the sheets rustle. Everyone looked up and saw Rei. She raised up and looked around.

"Mom?" Rei said. Kye raised up and looked to see the source of the voice. She met Rei's eyes. They were filled with curiosity.

"Don't... scare me... like that..." Kye muttered as she lost her grip on the edge of the bed and fell over. She was unconscious in mid-fall. Lion, being the closest, leaped over to her, barely managing to catch her before her head hit the concrete floor.

"Mom!" Rei said. She started to jump out of bed, but Yoshika grabbed her wrist.

"You need bed rest. I don't want to see you out of bed until tomorrow."

"But..." Rei started to argue, but her cousin would have none of it.

"I'm afraid she's right, Rei." Mio said. "You've been through a lot. Do you remember what hit you?"

"I remember fighting that humanoid neuroi. He shot me with some sort of small beam. It pierced right through my aura. Then a burning feeling. I had trouble breathing. Then nothing until now."

"The beam pierced completely through your body." Mio said as she walked over to the girl and pointed in the spot just below her right breast. "You were shot here. It pierced your lung."

"Then Yoshika healed me?"

"Yes, but it was too late to save you by the time we got you to her." Mio's statement ran a mix of fear, anxiety, and confusion through Rei's mind.

Yami took the stage and began to explain the rest. "Your lung was pierced, you were bleeding very heavily, you couldn't breathe, and your magic power was rapidly depleting. Your magic power fully depleted before you were returned to the base. When a witch suffers a life-threatening wound, her life energy starts using her magic power to sustain itself. Usually the wound can be healed or patched up before much magic power is drained for this affect, but your wound was so bad that your magic power was completely drained in a matter of minutes. After your life energy ran out of magic power to sustain itself, your life energy started depleting."

"Then how...?"

"Your mother's quick thinking, although the risk she took was enormous. Yoshika was able to completely heal your body, but she could not restore your life energy, which had depleted to a near death level. I couldn't even sense it by the time Kye arrived. She held onto hope, though. She was able to sense a glimmer of life in you with her Zen Aura, and after copying Layla's Creation magic she restored it enough that it would regenerate itself. Then she collapsed, but you saw that part."

"I see. Will she be okay?"

"She just needs to rest, as do you." Yami said. "She flew back here in an hour and fifteen minutes, after all, and that alone burns up an incredible amount of magic power, as she maintained a speed of Mach 4 without Shirley's speed magic. Then she did all that with the Zen Aura and Creation Magic. It's a miracle she was able to do that after using so much magic just to get here in time. I doubt either Yoshika or I could have done that even if we had known how."

Rei glanced back over to her mother. She knew the woman was capable of incredible feats, but this was something on an entirely different level.

"Lion, can you carry Kye to her room?" Minna asked.

"I want to go with her." Rei said.

"You need bed rest." Mio argued.

"I have a bed there, too!" Rei countered.

Mio sighed and moved over to the bed to pick Rei up. "Very well."

Fried interrupted her. "Ma'am, if it's all the same to you, perhaps I should carry her instead. You should get some rest as well. I know you spent a great deal more magic that I have."

"Yes, I am fairly exhausted." Mio approved. "Thank you, go ahead."

Trude and Erica couldn't help but exchange happy and amused glances at the sight of their great grandsons carrying Kye and Rei like gentlemen.

Before leaving the room, Lion called back to the others. "I need everyone to gather in the briefing room later as soon as General Miyafuji wakes up. Can you let everyone know?"

"Will do." Mio said.

* * *

Every member of the 501st and 511th present at the base gathered in the briefing room as Lion requested.

Mio, Minna, Yusu, and Ally, being the various Commanders and Battle Commanders of their teams, joined Lion in the front of the room. Kye merely sat in a chair off to the side instead of joining the others, as she still felt fairly drained and did not want to stand up if it were unnecessary.

As soon as everyone took their sets around the room, Lion took the floor. "As you should all know by now, six of the 511th Liberion Sect were temporarily deployed to the nearby base of the 512th Joint Fighter Wing, the reason being that they deployed too many of their members to a smaller base further north. That base further north needed the backup so they could effectively perform important recon. Fried?"

Fried got up from his seat and turned off the lights with a nearby switch, allowing Lion to turn on the screen on the front wall. He cycled through photographs of a neuroi hive that appeared to be floating above a large city filled with torn up skyscrapers.

"This is the neuroi hive above New York City. As you can see from the black and red clouds, this is a Level Two Super Hive."

"How does that compare to the green and black Super Hive and the purple and black Mother Hive?" Mio asked.

"Directly in between the two. I personally do not know the extents the 501st's abilities, but judging from what I have read and heard, a safe assumption would be that with the combined forces of the 501st, 511th Fuso Sect, 511th Liberion Sect, and the 512th, we should be able to take it out. I discussed strategy with 512th Commander, Colonel Janis Thach."

"That name sounds familiar..." Minna wondered aloud.

"She's the great granddaughter of Lieutenant Colonel Jane Thach, Commander of the 508th." Kye said, answering the question before it was asked. "The 511th isn't the only wing descended from the original Joint Fighter Wings."

"Correct." Lion confirmed. "We came up with a strategy to destroy this hive."

"'Why not just nuke it?', one might ask." Ally added.

"As easy of a solution that is, it is not an option." Lion said.

"Because we don't want to blow up the entire city in the crossfire. What can we do against a Level Two Super Hive?"

"A two front assault." Lion said. "We split our forces into two groups, one large, and one small. The large group draws the neuroi's attention so that the small group can covertly enter the hive and destroy its core."

Kye stood up and took the stage. "Why not just hit it with a three attacks from Class Ten witches?"

She took Lion by surprise, but he didn't falter. "If it were that simple."

"What would prevent that?"

"The hive has a spherical shield." Yusu chimed in. "You remember what we had to do to infiltrate the Neuroi Base back in Fuso, right? We'll have to deal with another powerful shield."

"That is the real reason a nuke wouldn't work." Lion added.

"I can't see a shield withstanding a full power blow from Yoshika, Yami, or myself." Kye said.

"I don't know about that, Kye." Yami disagreed. "The Neuroi Base shields aren't as strong as the Neuroi Hive shields, especially the shields of a Level Two Super Hive. The difference is that the hive shields are focused on deflecting any sort of attack from the outside, such as a neuroi beam, witch magic, bullets, explosions, and such. Humans can safely pass through these shields. This usually isn't a problem, as there is always an armada of neuroi ready to fight them off if any outsiders enter the shield."

"Right." Lion said. "This is why we need to distract them so that a covert squad can infiltrate, seek, and destroy."

"I see." Kye said. "The plan seems solid. I would suggest assigning First Lieutenant Yoshika Miyafuji to the infiltration squad."

"Colonel Thach and I have already decided on a team of four. We will send Lieutenant Colonel Ventus, First Lieutenant Kistanov, First Lieutenant Virtanen, and First Lieutenant Lucy Lucchini."

"Are those the only four going?" Kye asked.

"Yes."

"No." Kye shot back. "None of them have any strong defensive abilities. If you send only them, it is highly likely that one or more of them will die."

"They were chosen for their previous results of infiltration missions." Lion said, getting slightly irritated.

"I know the results of every active witch in the Joint Fighter Wings. Their experience in infiltration is null and void for infiltrating a hive." Kye shot back coolly.

"Not all of their results have been logged in our systems. This team can and will get the job done." Lion argued.

"I'm not doubting the abilities of your choices, I've fought alongside three of them and read plenty about the fourth, but I'm also not underestimating the power of a hive that exceeds that of the hives I personally destroyed back in 1945."

"My witches will prove themselves in this battle."

"No they won't." Kye said adamantly.

"Do you think they are not capable?" Lion argued strongly.

"They will not get the opportunity."

"They will. The four I selected are the best for this mission. They will find the hive's core and destroy it."

"You speak out of theory, I speak out of experience. I know for a fact that not a single Neuroi Hive has been destroyed since the combined efforts of the original eight wings destroyed the Mother Hive in 1945. The inside of a hive is not a place you want to send an inexperienced witch."

"Isn't that what you did in the first Fuso Hive battle?"

"No." Kye said. "Yoshika had previously entered a neuroi hive. She had an idea of what to expect. I went with her, and although they didn't know it at the time, I could have easily destroyed the hive with one attack. She was in no danger. And just to clarify, going into the hive was a spur of the moment decision, not one that was pre planned. Yoshika will go in the infiltration team, as will three others of my choice."

"So be it, then." Lion gave up. "Who do you have in mind?"

"Mio, Perrine, and Louise." Kye said. "Mio will lead the group, Yoshika will fight off any abnormally strong neuroi if there are any that Mio cannot handle herself, and Perrine and Louise will watch their backs, handling any small fry that may try to delay them."

"You do realize that you are sending in a team that has no Area Analysis or Magic Antenna, right?"

"Of course. Mio and Yoshika can simply copy Area Analysis from Minna."

"So be it. I'll contact Colonel Thach and let her know of the new team. Are there any other changes you want to make?"

"Your plan is good. Adjustments can be made on the battlefield if they are necessary."

"Fair enough." Lion said. "That concludes this discussion. A formal briefing will be called as soon as a date and time is set for this operation. I will contact the Commanders of the 501st and 511th Liberion Sect to arrange the briefing. Dismissed."

* * *

Soon after the briefing, Yoshika was called to the communications room. One wall was filled with small booths containing one video phone each.

"Hey, Daddy!" Yoshika called over the phone. She made sure to check in with her parents every few days, but this time they called her, which brought concern for her. "How are you feeling? Do you need me to come home for a little while?"

Ichiro and Sakaya Miyafuji had recovered from their illness considerably after being healed by Yoshika, enough that they could manage everyday life on their own again, despite their ages.

"No Yoshika, I'm doing well, as is your mother." Ichiro answered warmly. "We are even able to go for short walks pain free."

"That's great!"

"I have some good news for you, and for your Aunt Kye as well."

Yoshika was suddenly a mix of confused and happy. "Oh? What is it?"

"Please go get her first, I'll hold on."

"No need, brother, I'm here." Kye said as she entered the booth holding her hand on the back her head with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I got curious and wanted to know who was calling."

"It's quite alright, the call was for you both." Ichiro moved over to allow room for Sayaka to appear in the video feed.

"Hey, Yoshika dear! I hope you are eating well."

"It's more like she's making sure the rest of us are eating well." Kye joked lightly.

"That's good! I'm sorry I can't talk longer, I'm helping Ayame with dinner. Take care, both of you!" Sayaka slipped away before Yoshika or Kye could say anything else.

Before Ichiro could say anything else, Ayame pushed her way into the video feed.

"Hello, Ayame. Are you well?"

"I'm great, mother." Ayame replied formally. "How's the front over there?"

"We are going on the offensive pretty soon. If all goes well, we should have Liberion liberated in two weeks." Kye answered before Yoshika had the chance.

"That's good. I want to see you all without having to look through one of these." Ayame poked at the camera on her end.

"What are you cooking?" Yoshika curiously asked.

"Oh, just a typical rice dinner, nothing fancy. You know, Grandma and Grandpa don't even need me here anymore. They are doing really well! I feel a lot safer about leaving them when Kamiko, Nori, and I go out."

"They are doing that well?"

Ichiro interrupted before Ayame had a chance to continue. "You bet we are! The reason I called you is mostly due to that fact. I've been feeling good enough that I was able to restart my final project."

He sparked the attention of both Yoshika and Kye upon giving them the news.

"I'll leave you to tell them. I need to get back to the kitchen anyway. Take care, mom, Aunt Kye." She waved at the camera, earning two waves in return, before slipping out of the feed.

Ichiro put on a serious face before continuing. "Project SFS is nearing completion actually. I just need about two weeks to put the finishing touches, but to do that I need your help."

"Do we need to come back to Fuso for this?" Kye asked.

"No, but I need a delivery." Both Kye and Yoshika were confused. "I want you to gather up the Air Band units used by each of the thirteen members of the 501st, including current units and any units used since you arrived in Liberion that may have been replaced and send them to me. If the unit you broke wasn't thrown out, I want that, too."

"What do you need them for?"

"I can only say so much through an unsecure communication line. You will know as soon as you return to Fuso. Can you come in a few weeks after you finish up there?"

"Yes."

"Good. Make sure all thirteen members of the 501st come as well. If this works correctly... well I can't really say over this line. You'll have to trust me that it is very important."

"Of course."

"Good." Ichiro glanced behind him after hearing Sayaka call his name. "I have to go, they are calling for me. I'll talk to you soon! Goodbye, Yoshika, Kye."

"Bye, Daddy."

"Talk to you soon, brother."

After hanging up, Kye and Yoshika traded curious, but confused glances.

"What do you think it could be?" Yoshika asked.

"I was about to ask you that. He hasn't as much as mentioned it to me, and I haven't seen anything even relating to it in any records."

"It must be something big if he's kept it a secret from even the military."

"Yeah." Kye paused for a moment and closed her eyes, losing herself in thought. The silence was quickly interrupted by her growling stomach, leaving a somewhat annoyed expression on her face.

"Heh, I know that sound." Yoshika said. "Come on, let's go eat."

* * *

June 3rd, 2012

* * *

Two days after the formal briefing, the time for the Liberion Offensive arrived. At 1200 hours on June 3rd, a large battalion of witches, consisting of the 501st, 511th Fuso and Liberion Sects, and 512th Joint Fighter Wings, approached New York City... approached the hive.

Bullets, magic, neuroi beams, and white fragments started filling the sky as the witches engaged the neuroi.

Neuroi poured out of the hive, but none were greater than a large type. The witches split in teams of three to take the large types down without using magic attacks. Occasionally, Kye or Rei would hit one with a Reppuzan as they started getting overwhelmed.

The goal of the main force was to preserve magic for any possible high-level neuroi that could come forth. Hopefully, the battle would go smoothly, but as this was a Level Two Super Hive and the heart of the neuroi in Liberion, the witches didn't hold out on an easy victory.

For a while, it seemed as if only a large number of smaller neuroi were opposing the witches, but they quickly figured out that the high number of small fry were just drones.

While the main force of witches was battling the neuroi, the infiltration team was hiding in a building below, waiting for an opportunity.

"Kye, there's still too many hanging back for us to sneak in." Mio whispered over the intercom. "Not to mention that there are some down here floating around the buildings. We can't leave this building undetected."

"I'm working on that." Kye said. She turned her attention back to the neuroi. "Kousen!"

"Mahousen!" Yami mirrored.

The two fired a beam of light magic and beam of neutral magic respectively into the swarm of neuroi, each destroying a fair number and opening a path.

They flew in, auras active to ward off neuroi beams, and started shooting anything nearby. Once they had the neuroi's attention, Kye flew downward below the shield and readied another attack aimed at the neuroi patrolling the city.

"Modify: Bunkatsu. Modify Sanjuu. Modify Sanjuu. Kousen!" Kye shot a light beam downward that split into several beams that homed in on the various neuroi below.

She destroyed several of them, and gained the attention of the rest. She quickly led the other neuroi away from the center of the hive, closer to the side where the witch force was engaged. The witch force moved closer, meeting the incoming lured neuroi halfway.

In the midst of the chaos, Mio took the opportunity to slip out of the building and into the hive, Yoshika, Perrine, and Louise following.

"We .re ins...!" Mio called.

"Just like in Fuso and Egypt." Kye said. "We can't hear each other clearly."

"Wh..? I .an't un...st... .ou!" Yoshika said. She turned to the other three witches with her.

"We have some sort of interference just like other hives. We won't be able to clearly understand them." Mio explained. "And they won't understand us either."

"Right." Yoshika said. "Can you spot the core of the hive now that we are inside?"

"I already checked as soon as we entered. We need to go deeper in before I can get a good... wait, there it is, and it's HUGE!"

"Incoming!" Perrine said. She flew backwards long enough to rain bullets on the few neuroi that had found them.

"Don't let your guard down." Mio said. "I bet there are a lot more. This way!"

* * *

While Mio and the others navigated through the hive, the main force started seeing more serious opposition. Several large type neuroi started pouring from the hive clouds with beams flying, and a few super large types descended from above the hive to flank the witches.

The super large types were dispatched quickly using ultimates. The standard large ones lasted a bit longer. The witches did not want to waste magic if they could get away with it.

* * *

Despite the outside of the hive consisting of black and dark red clouds, the inside was completely solid, being constructed of the same black metal-like material as the neuroi themselves.

The witches flew through winding passages one after another, taking out a few stray neuroi on the way, until they reached a large empty dome shaped room. In the center of the ceiling was a small hole, roughly ten meters in diameter by any educated guess. From this hole, a bright red light could be seen shining through. The hive core was above, but the hole was protected by a barrier.

Normally, a barrier wouldn't slow the witches down, but a humanoid neuroi descended from the hole. They wouldn't be able to hold off this neuroi and break through the barrier at the same time. The only option was to defeat the neuroi then go for the core.

"I recognize that neuroi." Mio said. "We meet again, Commander Xan."

"Indeed we do, little witches." Xan said. "Have you come to surrender?"

"No chance in hell." Mio shot back.

"I'm afraid we have nothing to discuss then. Prepare yourselves."

Yoshika and Mio reached for their swords just as Perrine and Louise grabbed the hilts of their rapiers.

"Halt, witches." Came a familiar voice.

"Xala!" Yoshika turned to see Xala, Xelia, and Xia floating behind them. "You're back!"

"I apologize for leaving abruptly a few weeks ago. We had some business to take care of and arrived at your base shortly after you left to come here." Xala explained. "Naturally, we followed."

"The traitors return." Xan mocked.

"The traitor stands before us." Xala countered. "As the leader of the Blue Neuroi, I will silence you."

"Feel free to try, but I don't promise anything." Xan said as he formed a red and black neuroi sword in his left hand.

Xala formed a blue and black sword in her hand in return. "We neuroi have been able to copy certain witch abilities since the last war. You are fairly proficient in these abilities, but you have not had the opportunity to train with the witches and learn their techniques in depth as I have."

"It matters not. You are Class Nine and I am Class Ten."

Xala moved at a speed that impressed even Mio and Yoshika. She had her sword in Xan's face so fast that he could barely react. The force behind Xala's blade, even though Xan managed to block it, was enough to send him flying into the back wall of the dome. "Don't underestimate me, Xan."

Xala followed up quickly with a blue neuroi version of the Reppuzan. Xan barely managed to dodge the overwhelming attack, which blew a large chunk out of the wall of the dome. The walls were extremely thick, however, so the attack didn't break all the way through to the outside.

Xan saw the damage and thought to himself. 'She might be on my level now if she was able to damage the inner dome like that. This area of the hive is made from a much stronger material than the bodies of the soldiers.'

Xala spared no time charging toward Xan. The two met blades several times before breaking apart. Xan prepared a beam to fire at Xala, who returned the favor. Their beams met in an explosion, throwing everyone back against the walls of the dome.

Xan fired several more beams simultaneously in different directions. The beams curved and flew toward Xala. She easily dodged them, but didn't see Xan moving in for an attack. She almost took a direct hit from his sword, but was able to block it in the nick of time.

She kicked him away before starting to pour energy into her blade. "I'm putting everything I have into this attack. I suggest you do the same if you don't want to die."

"You sure have grown cocky." Xan said as he reluctantly took Xala's advice. "Your defiance ends here, however."

"Let our blades do the talking." Xala said as she charged forward.

Xan charge forward as well, meeting Xala's blade in the middle. As the two blades crossed, the force of the impact generated a shockwave. Xala's attack, however, was the more powerful. Her blade broke Xan's and tore through his body, core and all, shattering it.

Just before his body shattered into white fragments, Xan managed to praise her. "Well done, Xala. But can you defeat HIM?"

"Him?" Mio asked as she and the others gathered near Xala.

"Not important right now." Xala said. "Go, destroy the core. It is unguarded now."

Mio and Yoshika both activated their white auras and flew up toward the hole. Mio broke the barrier, allowing Yoshika to enter.

While the hive core may have been enormous, just as the one back in Venezia was after it was exposed, it was still fragile when placed up against the power of a veteran sword witch.

Yoshika hit the core with a full powered Reppuzan, shattering it into countless fragments along with the entirety of the hive, leaving the clouds surrounding the hive nothing to cling onto. The clouds dispersed and every red neuroi in sight was destroyed.

After the neuroi fragments dissipated, the main force of witches flew up toward Yoshika to congratulate her. She turned down their praise, however, telling them to aim it at Xala, who had defeated Commander Xan.

Kye especially was happy to see that Xala had grown to Class Ten after her recent training. She suspected that Xelia and Xia had also grown in strength, but left the questioning for later. Liberion had been liberated, and celebrations were in order.

* * *

Techniques Introduced

Zen Aura - Kye (Successful)

Unknown Classification: Creation Magic: Life Energy Healing - Kye (While copying Creation Magic with the Zen Aura)

Magic Technique: Kousen (Light Beam) - Kye (No mods, Light Magic)

Magic Technique: Mahousen (Magic Beam) - Yami (Neutral Magic)

Ultimate Technique: Kousen - Kye (Light Magic)  
-Augmentation: Bunkatsu (Splitting) - Kye  
-Augmentation: Sanjuu (Triplicate) - Kye (Repeatable, but spreads power evenly)

Neuroi Reppuzan - Xala

Neuroi Energy Projection - Xala (Only shown enhancing her weapon, no aura)

* * *

**Sorry about this chapter being a week late, I need more time to figure it out and write it! It ended up being pretty long, oddly enough the longest chapter I've written in fanfiction so far. This marks the end of the Liberion Arc. We'll be visiting Europe next, but where specificaly... well you'll see!**

**It seems Dr. Ichiro Miyafuji (and Sayaka) have recovered from their illness early in the story. By the battle, his Project SFS has been completed, whatever that happens to be. Feel free to guess, but my lips are sealed until the chapter for it comes around. I will give a hint, however... it has influence from something outside of Strike Witches that was created by the same people... Vividred Operation. This new anime is excellent and you can tell it shares a lot of quality with Strike Witches, except it is futuristic instead of based in WW2. I highly recommend it! I watched every episode that is currently out in one sitting! As of the time of release for this chapter, there are 9 episodes for it.**

**Xala, Xelia, and Xia have returned. They mysteriously disappeared a few weeks ago to go train. Xala (and presumably Xelia and Xia as well) has gained in strength enough to be a Class Ten Neuroi, or a Super Elite, which was proved when she took down Xan.**

******As an added note, if I miss my release schedule one week, I am probably just going to wait until the next week to release the next chapter. This just means we went a week without a chapter. Sorry again! I was really busy and needed more time to work on it!**

**Welp, the Liberion Arc has ended. Let me know what you guys think! I'd love some PMs or even reviews on the matter!**

* * *

**Edits  
**

**********4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has no mentions of either names and has thus been left alone.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	21. European Arc: Chapter 21: A New Toy

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 21: A New Toy

June 6th, 2012

* * *

Three days after the victory in Liberion, the witches were called to the Headquarters in Britannia to discuss the next operation. Most of the witches waited outside of the conference room while Kye, Mio, Minna, Yoshika, Yami, Yusu, Lion, and Allison were talking with the generals.

Yoshika and Yami sat in silence while the others discussed strategy.

"We want to send the 511th, both Fuso and Liberion Sectors, to the Africa front and send the 501st to the European front in Soumus." One general proposed.

Yoshika stood up and raised her voice, "You aren't splitting us up!" She startled everyone.

"We have too much need for our most experienced witches in both locations." The General said. "We have no choice."

"But you..." She was interrupted.

"You are right, General." Kye said. "You have no choice... in the matter. That choice lies with me."

"Every witch in the world reports to you, and you report to us." The General shot back.

"Tell me something. Are you questioning my methods? The methods that turned the tide in the Second Neuroi War in the 1940s and led humanity to victory? The methods of the person who held the rank of General of the Allied Forces?"

The man remained silent.

"The 501st, 511th Fuso, and 511th Liberion will all go join the 511th European and 513th in Suomus. The reason I want all of us there is one reason. The European neuroi are gaining in strength. My neuroi contacts have sent their own recon units to scout the enemy neuroi locations. The 512th will remain stationed in Liberion, and the Fuso Witches will cover Fuso. I am forming two new wings, the 514th and 515th. I have already gathered witches for these wings and will be evaluating them in Fuso next week. If everything goes well, both will be sent in a joint mission to clear out the hive in Africa."

"And if not?"

"Then I will personally lead the most powerful witches in the world, as well as three of our neuroi allies, to take it out swiftly and with overwhelming force, although that would leave our main group at a lack of firepower."

"Who will go?"

"Myself, Yami, Yoshika, Rei, Mio, Xala, Xelia, and Xia. Four of which are Class Ten level and four of which are upper Class Nine level."

"I see." The General said. "I can agree to that then."

Three of the other Generals nodded their heads as well, leaving the General that had been speaking to turn to the General sitting in the middle.

"You're call, General Ventus."

"I trust General Miyafuji's judgment." Ventus said. "I approve. This meeting is adjourned."

* * *

Shortly after the room was abandoned, Ventus caught up to Kye and asked to speak to her privately.

"You have changed since we last spoke." Ventus said. "I want to know what's on your mind."

"To be blunt, I'm pissed off, have been for a few weeks." Kye said. "The 501st gets sent to 2012 to solve a problem humanity is too stupid to realize and I nearly lose my daughter over it."

"Too stupid? We were undermanned without you. It has nothing to do with intelligence." "Oh, but it does." Kye shot back. "The problem isn't the war. The problem is the purpose of the war. Figure it out and then talk to me."

"Gen..." Kye walked off before he could say anything else.

* * *

"Kye!" Mio called as she saw Kye walking out of the building. She didn't stop. "Kye!"

"Lion, Yusu, front and center." Kye commanded as she walked up to the group.

Everyone immediately saw the expression on her face. It wasn't a nice sight. Her eyes were narrow and sharp.

"As the commanders of your respective 511th Sectors, you decide where you go until the 20th. On that day, we are scheduled to meet up in Soumus at the 511th European base. Until then, the 501st will be returning to Fuso. You may come with us or go wherever you want." She turned over to Minna and whispered something to her before walking off.

"Strike Witches, load up." Minna called. "We're leaving for Fuso now."

Lion and Yusu traded confused glances before gathering their own squads and discussing their next move.

While walking toward the plane, Perrine and Lynne crowded around Yoshika. Both had questions, but Perrine was the first to go. "What's her problem?"

"I'm worried about her." Yoshika said. "I don't know what's on her mind, but she's been... different these last few weeks. I'm sure you both have noticed."

"Yeah." Lynne said. "You don't think it has something to do with..."

"Me?" Came a familiar voice from behind. Rei had snuck up next to them. "It's got everything to do with me. I almost died. She's pissed off about that."

Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine remained silent, waiting for Rei to continue, and continue she did. She said the same thing, almost word for word, Kye said to Ventus.

"I see." Perrine said.

"She's already lost two daughters." Lynne started.

"She's scared of losing the only one she has left." Yoshika finished.

Rei's face was somewhat red, but she looked Yoshika directly in the eyes. "I want you to help me. I don't want mom to worry about me anymore, and for that I need to learn Stage Six."

"I don't know. I'll help you, but I don't know if you can learn it."

"I'll work hard for it." Rei said.

"Perhaps I can help." Yami said as she walked up to them. "Your mother and cousin aren't the only witches with that power. I believe your Uncle Ichiro will have a little surprise that will help as well."

Yoshika sparked up. "He did mention that he finished a project recently, but didn't say anything about what it was, and Kye doesn't know anything about it either. How do you know?"

"I helped him." Yami said. She started walking toward the plane and called back. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

June 7th, 2012

* * *

The plane ride to Fuso took several hours, but the time change was more significant than that. Night had fallen in Fuso by the time they arrived at the Yokosuka Naval base, so they stayed the night on base and went to see Dr. Miyafuji the next morning.

Sometime between 1945 and 1952, a private lab was built on the Miyafuji grounds, or more specifically under the Miyafuji grounds. While Dr. Miyafuji developed Striker Unit technology on base, he worked on a secret project in his private lab.

Lined along the walls in the back room of the lab were fourteen outfits of unique build.

"I have been working on Project SFS since this lab was built." Ichiro explained. "Until now, I have worked only with Miss Yami on this project. These suits are the pinnacle of Striker Unit technology. I wanted to create something that a witch could wear that would allow a witch to fly freely without use of a striker, but without sacrificing the power of the Striker Unit. Air Bands were a... placeholder. They are vastly inferior to these suits."

"What are these suits exactly, doctor?" Mio asked.

"My life's work." Ichiro answered. "Project SFS, or Striker Flight Suit, will revolutionize witch combat. Similar to the Air Band, SFS merely has to be worn. The SFS responds to neural commands given using magic. If you think it, the suit will respond to it instantly and flawlessly. The project has been completed for a while now thanks to Miss Yami's cooperation and testing. I only needed your used Air Bands to calibrate each individual suit for each of you."

"What are the restrictions for these suits?" Kye asked. Ichiro caught her question correctly.

"What restrictions?" He asked in return. "They are far more advanced than the Air Bands ever thought about being. You can use your full power without fear of them shorting out. In fact, shorting them out is impossible. They are not electronic."

"How?"

"They are made from a special fabric... a magic fabric brought from your Realm of Light." Ichiro said, earning a surprised look from Kye. "Yami told me about that long ago. I know everything. Anyway, this fabric is a special magic fabric..."

"Sky Silk." Kye said. "But how did you get any?"

Yami raised her hand. "After several conversations, I mentioned Sky Silk. I retrieved enough for him to make a prototype several years ago."

"Before we introduced Sky Silk to the project, we had to conduct several tests in secret before we could do a real flight. I made her carry around a broom in case it malfunctioned, and it did every time. There was seemingly no way for anything electronic to work on a scale this large. It was then that she mentioned Sky Silk. I redesigned the SFS to use Sky Silk instead of normal silk found here on Earth. The Sky Silk shorted out any electronics used in the suit, which allowed me to soon discover that it did not even need any electronics."

"Sky Silk is extremely durable and very soft." Kye said. "The real secret to it is that it almost integrates with living beings with magic power, witches for example. You really picked the best possible material to use. It even changes color depending on what the user wants."

"Indeed." Ichiro said. "The base color is white, but when Yami wore her suit, it changed to silver. As you can see, the suits look plainly like short sleeve shirt and skirt combined with a belt separating the two parts with boots and gloves. If you look a bit closer, there is a body suit worn under all of it.

If you'll notice, there are no holes large enough for the torso portion to be equipped. To put it on, you merely touch it, it will respond to your magic, open itself, and wrap around your body appropriately. Simply repeat for the glove and boot pieces of the underlayer. The suit itself is designed after Kye and Yami's battle kimonos, at least the body suit they wear underneath. Equipping the underlayer while wearing normal clothing will present problems, as such I advise you to remove all of your normal clothing aside undergarments before equipping the body suit portion."

He paused for a moment and pulled up a picture of a woman's physique before continuing. "The suit will cover these portions." He pointed at the arms slightly below the shoulders and at the legs between the pelvis and knees to signify the coverage of the torso portion. The boot portion of the underlayer covered up to a few inches below the knee while the glove portion of the underlayer covered up to an inch or so short of the elbow.

"Now the overlayer is the main part of the suit. The underlayer serves as a connection between your skin and the main suit. The main suit will cover all of the same areas, although the torso is one piece shaped similar to a short dress, but is basically a shirt and skirt combined. As I mentioned earlier, the two are separated by a belt worn over, but the two are still actually one piece. The suit will be mostly one color, whichever color you choose, but the rim of the skirt, the belt, and the rims of the short sleeves will be either white or black, whichever compliments the primary color most. The suit will automatically pick between them.

The gloves will be two colors as well. The wrist and arm portion will be the primary color with the hand and rim of the arm being the secondary color. The boots are similar in color scheme. The foot and rim of the leg portion will be secondary while the ankle and leg portion will be primary."

"So what are the features?" Trude asked.

"The most important part." Ichiro said. "While worn and while in combat, the suit will emit a thin layer barrier of sorts, or Magic Aura, around the body. This feature is based on the Energy Projection Auras used by Kye, Yoshika, and so on. This Magic Aura's strength depends on the witch, but as the suits can only be used by the lot of you, each aura will have strength comparable to the White Aura."

"It sounds as though you are trying to copy auras with these suits." Kye pointed out.

"In a sense, I am, but the real auras will always be superior. The Magic Aura emitted by the suit cannot be extended to other witches whereas the Energy Projection Auras can. The Magic Aura will not allow the user to copy another witch's magic, the aura will not enhance the witch s strength, speed, or anything else. However, the suit itself will enhance personal performance in places such as strength and speed. In short, the Strike Flight Suit is designed to give witches that do not possess the power of Energy Projection a similar combat capability. There is one advantage. The Magic Aura can be focused in one spot to strengthen the witch's defenses. One example would be if Rei had been wearing a suit when she was shot through her lung by that one neuroi, the shot would not have pierced the suit's defensive aura. The suit would have focused more power to the point of impact instantaneously to block the beam, however powerful so long as the witches overall magic power is greater than the attack."

"Interesting." Minna said. "These will definitely help in battle, but why can only we wear them?"

"Your descendants are not powerful enough to utilize the suits. The downfall to designing something to be powerful is that the user has to be powerful as well. The thirteen Strike Witches, as well as Miss Yami, are the only witches in the world capable of using them. There are a few modern day witches that are close, but not quite strong enough."

"Who are they?"

"Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Mei, and Yoko. You'll note that all five are direct Miyafuji descendants."

"But Mei and Yoko are my descendants." Mio argued.

"Indeed."

"Then...?"

Yami answered her unasked question. "Your Miyafuji lineage only goes back a few generations above you. I would know since I kept track of every generation between Yuko and now."

"I see."

"There is one more feature that you need to know about, but this one is easier to show than explain." Ichiro said as he turned to Yami. "Would you mind giving them a demonstration?"

"Of course." Yami said.

"I'll be waiting outside for you then." He walked toward the door, but turned back once before leaving. "You all should equip your suits and give them a test run after watching Miss Yami's demonstration. There is a name on the wall above each suit." He left.

* * *

Several minutes later, the witches emerged from the lab, each wearing their suits. Ichiro quickly noted that not all of the secondary colors were white or black.

Yoshika's suit was colored blue with white as its secondary, the same colors of her old school uniform. Lynne's suit was dark grey and light grey. Perrine's suit was dark blue and black.

Shirley's suit was dark red and white. Lucchini's Suit was white and black. Sanya's suit was a complete opposite to Lucchini's, being primarily black with white rather than primarily white with black. Eila's suit was a faded blue with white.

Erica's suit was primarily black and dark grey. Trude's suit was a grayish green with black. Minna's suit was a faded green with black. Mio's suit was white with bright red, the same red as Reppumaru's hilt wrapping.

Rei's suit was blue and white, just like Yoshika's. Yami's suit was silver and white like her battle kimono, as was mentioned by Ichiro earlier. Lastly, Kye's suit was dark purple and black, also like her battle kimono.

After noting the appearance of each witch's suit, he beckoned at Yami to start her demonstration.

"Kye, fire a few light beams at me in five second intervals once I turn around." Yami said. Kye nodded and waiting for Yami to fly up into the sky.

Once Yami turned back to them, Kye fired a beam of light magic. Yami held her hand out and merely blocked it with an open palm, demonstrating the defensive power of the suit. After five seconds passed, Kye launched another beam, which Yami batted away with her forearm. She kicked the next beam upward into the sky. She blocked and deflected a few more beams before Kye surprised her.

Kye jumped up off the ground and flew straight to Yami, drawing her sword midflight. She did not use an aura or put any significant amount of magic into the blade. Kye slashed directly at Yami who merely held her hand out and caught it without any aura or magic to reinforce it. The blade was stopped in the palm of Yami's hand with absolutely no damage to the glove covering it.

"Impressive." Kye said before floating back down to the ground. She called back up to Yami, "What about that other feature?"

"Right." Yami said. "I want you to shoot beams at me with one second intervals."

Kye started shooting beams of light, allowing Yami to display the final feature of the Striker Flight Suit. Yami dodged the first beam, but the second beam looked as if it would hit her. A small flat surface, roughly a one foot square, made of magic appeared near her hand. She pushed at the surface, launching her body away.

"There's no way a Striker Unit or Air Band could have dodged that." Trude said.

Yami continued using the magic platforms to dodge the incoming beams. She appeared as though she was performing three-dimensional acrobatics in the sky, jumping from platform to platform, each appearing for only a split second, as she needed them. She even performed cartwheels and other acrobatic maneuvers as she weaved through the beams.

"That is incredible." Minna said. The other witches were in awe at Yami's performance.

After a few more moments of air acrobatics, Yami held her hand to Kye, signaling her to stop before raising a shield in the opposite direction to block an incoming wave of magic energy.

"What?" Mio said as she jumped into the sky to get a closer look.

A girl, around eighteen years old, could be seen floating in the sky. "Good, I have your attention." The girl appeared to be wearing a suit as well, although how confused everyone, especially Ichiro. Her suit was completely black.

"How do you have SFS technology?" Ichiro demanded to know. "I've kept this a secret from even the military."

"Master Zen has known about your project for quite a while." The girl said. "You can relax, nobody outside of the Strike Witches and Dark Witches have knowledge of the SFS."

"Dark Witches?" Yoshika said. "Like that Ren that attacked us several weeks ago?"

Several of the witches gripped their weapons in preparation for an attack.

"Indeed." The girl said. "I am Dark Witch Aira. I see you are all ready for a battle, but don't get ahead of yourselves. I'm not here to fight you. One versus fourteen would be suicidal, especially considering one of you is Master Yami and another is Mastery Kye, who has recovered her memories of the Light Kingdom."

"Your Master Zen..." Kye said. "Is he my brother from the Light Kingdom, Prince Zen Akari?"

"Indeed." Aira answered.

"The same name as the God of Darkness?" Yoshika pointed out.

"Oh?" Aira said. "Has Master Yami not told you or is this part sealed behind the final lock on Kye's memories?"

"What are you talking about?" Kye demanded.

"I might as well tell you. You see, you and your..."

Yami interrupted her. "Stop now. Mentioning such a thing before she releases the final lock is dangerous. You just might piss off a god by doing so."

"True enough." Aira said. "I'll leave you to figure that part out. Anyway, I'm here to deliver a message."

"Spit it out, then." Kye ordered.

"The neuroi will not be your only enemy in Europe." Aira said. "The Dark Witches will be there as well, and I look forward to the battles we will fight."

"Do you think we'll just let you leave alive after saying such a thing?" Kye said coldly.

"Oh please, I know your pacifism toward killing a witch." Aira said. "You may want to get over it. We Dark Witches will not hesitate to kill any of you, and our strongest members can rival even you, Yami, and Yoshika." She turned to her side, but spoke in a singsong tone before flying away. "Goodbye!"

"I was wondering when the Dark Witches would show themselves again." Kye said.

"She's not lying, by the way." Yami said. "I've sensed the power of one of their strongest members. They really can rival the Strike Witches."

"This presents itself as a problem." Kye said. "We'll discuss it later, though. We need to practice with these suits."

"Come to me immediately if you find any problems." Ichiro said. "I'll be in the house with Sayaka, Ayame, and Kamiko."

"Will do."

* * *

**Project SFS - Striker Flight Suit (Equipment Introduced and Features)**

Magic Aura - Based on the Energy Projection Aura. Acts as a very strong and versatile defensive mechanic for the user of the SFS. The entire aura can be condensed to one location to increase defensive power of smaller areas around the user's body.

Enhanced Strength - Based on the Energy Projection Aura. Increases the witch's strength at the expense of magic power.

Enhanced Agility - Based on the Energy Projection Aura. Increases the witch's speed at the expense of magic power.

Magic Platforms - Small platforms generated for a split second for use as stepping stones by the witch.

* * *

Characters Introduced

Dark Witch Aira - Unknown Background

* * *

**Sorry for being late this week! I've been all kinds of busy the last few days.  
**

**So we are heading to Europe next, but had to take a pit stop in Fuso, although Fuso is further away... anyway, Project SFS or Strike Flight Suit has been unveiled. SFS is based on several things, some original concepts of my own and some concepts found in a new anime that is headed by the same people that brought us the Strike Witches anime. Vividred Operation. It really is a great anime and I highly highly recommend checking it out. You can definitely see it's "Strike Witches" background... girls fighting an alien machine of some sort. I've been needing a step up from the Air Band for quite a while, ever since I wrote the chapter where Kye's Air Band overloaded. I've been tossing around ideas, but couldn't mix them all together until I watched Vividred Operation and saw the Pallet Suit they used. So I designed a special flight suit and threw in the ideas I previously had ready. I tried to give energy projection to the other witches in my canceled story Strike Witches: The Neuroi Rebellion, but couldn't do it right. SFS allows me to do that, but restricts those who do not have natural auras from using the more advanced abilities.**

**The SFS concept comes from my original work where my characters will use a similar but FAR FAR more advanced Battle Suit (which is needed as the combat in my original work is much more extreme than in any of my fanfiction works). The concept wasn't completed as I didn't now how to implement it, and I didn't want to copy Iron Man's armor suit. Vividred Operation used a clothing sort of suit that inspired me to design a lightweight suit with magic properties fueled by the user's own magic energy rather than by a power cell or remote energy source. I considered using the Air Band in the original, but wanted something much more sophisticated. The Sky Silk concept was also created for this Suit concept.**

**The SFS concept includes the concepts of Energy Projection Auras, the Pallet Suit, and normal clothing. Let me know what you guys think of it!**

**Also, The Dark Witches have returned and will be important in the European Arc. I have several more Dark Witches to name, and if any of my readers would like to try their hand in naming any of them, my Inbox is Welcome. There are three "teams" of Dark Witches. One lead by the Dark Witch Ren that appeared several chapters ago. Aira is a part of her team. Ren is more powerful than she let on when fighting Kye. The three leaders of the Dark Witch teams will be able to rival Kye, Yoshika, and Yami. The teams will be split up similar to the JFW, one commanding rank, one second in command rank, and multiple members.  
**

**There will be a fourth arc after the European arc, but I will not be giving any information about that until the time comes for it.**

* * *

**Edits  
**

******4/18/2013: During the release of Chapter 22, two characters had a name change. Miekori Akiyama and Kiyori Akiyama are now known as Mei Akiyama and Kiyoko Akiyama (Yoko for short). This chapter has been edited (names only) to account for this change.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	22. Chapter 22: A Losing Battle

**Note: Two names have been changed. Miekori has been shorted to Mie and corrected to Mei. Kiyori has been changed to Kiyoko and nicknamed Yoko. This will be retroactively corrected later and noted in the Author's Notes of each chapter.**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 22: A Losing Battle

June 20th, 2012

* * *

The witches stayed and trained in Fuso until the last minute. After leaving Fuso to head over to Soumus, they were surprised to find their destination was no longer Soumus, but Britannia.

Kye was more than right when she said that the European front needed more help. She didn't expect the European neuroi to push the Allied Forces from Soumus and even through Karlsland.

Yoshika looked out of the window when the transport plane started to descend. "Lynne! Look!"

Rei glanced out of her window, wondering what she was looking at.

"Yoshika! I can't believe it." Lynne said as she realized what Yoshika was pointing out.

Their destination was the original base of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing in Britannia, overlooking the Dover Straight.

Kye glanced out of her window and made a quiet comment, "It's a good thing I pulled some strings and had this place repaired in 1947."

Mio heard her and piped up, "I forgot you did that."

"It's been a long time since we were stationed here." Minna said. "There are a lot of memories on this base."

The younger witches, Yusu and her friends, overheard bits of the conversation and wondered what was going on. They found their answer as soon as the transport landed on the airstrip.

General Ventus was waiting for them in the hangar.

"Hello, General." Kye greeted. "Mind filling me on the situation this past week?"

"Of course." Ventus said. "The hive here in Europe has progressed to a Level Three Super Hive. It has pitch black clouds like the normal hives, but is much larger than the hive you destroyed in Liberion."

"Is it as big as a Mother Hive?"

"No. The neuroi pushed our forces back this far in only a week's time." Ventus continued. "All of Soumus and Karlsland have been occupied. They are currently invading Gallia and have taken roughly half of the land. The Air Forces of Gallia, Karlsland, and Romagna have joined forces to hold them where they are, but the efforts will be futile without your team."

"What about the 511th and 513th?"

"The European and Liberion sectors are already here. The 513th is stationed at the former base of the 506th in Gallia."

"Good." Kye said. "Everyone is here or nearby." Kye started to head inside, but was stopped.

"One more thing." Ventus said. "This is more for the first eleven members of the 501st. Your rooms were preserved. Your nameplates are still on the doors. Assuming you remember where they are, feel free to settle in."

"Will there be enough rooms for everyone?" Mio asked.

"There will be enough rooms for everyone to have their own room." Ventus said.

"That's a first." Trude commented.

"So when are you going to tell me about your new... whatever it is." Ventus said. "I still have no idea what it is."

Kye didn't answer at first. She was busy looking at a small screen that seemingly appeared out of nowhere in front of her eyes.

"The hell?" Ventus said, jumping back a few feet.

Kye grabbed the small screen in front of her eyes and stretched it out to about a square meter in front of her, large enough for the others to see. On the screen was a map of Europe.

"What is that thing?" Ventus asked.

"Advanced technology." Kye answered. "Our SFS can intercept radio signals among other things." She zoomed into the area around Gallia. Parts of Britannia, Karlsland, Romagna, Venezia, Hispania, and all of Belgica were visible as well. Several red dots cluttered eastern Gallia as well as a larger black dot.

"It seems a hive has formed at the border of Gallia and Karlsland." Kye said. "Likely to reinforce the neuroi troops in eastern Gallia. It looks like they are preparing an attack."

"How are you seeing this?" Ventus asked.

"I've picked up on the radar network in Gallia and Karlsland." Kye said. "The neuroi may have taken Karlsland and half of Gallia, but they failed to destroy our radar network. You should be able to pull this information up on the computers on base later. As for now, we need to go. A large cluster of red dots are closing in toward this location." She pointed at the location of the former 506th base. "They will be under attack soon and are probably already mobilizing."

"Let's go." Minna commanded. "If we fly at full speed, we should get there in under ten minutes."

"Maybe five minutes." Mio said.

The Liberion 511th had just walked out in time to hear Mio and Minna commenting about their speed and each gave a surprised expression.

The various 501st witches threw off their cloaks, revealing their Striker Flight Suits and earning more mixed expressions from their onlookers. Everyone aside Kye was carrying their standard equipment, their usual gun and enchanted weapon. Kye, however, had two guns, her usual gun, a new sniper rifle, her Akarimaru, her Jouten, and an assortment of shorter blades strapped to various places on her body.

"You heard your commander, girls." Kye said. "Showtime." She jumped into the air and broke the sound barrier before breaking a thousand meters altitude. The rest of the Strike Witches were right behind her.

"Wow..." The transport pilot muttered.

Yusu took command. "We're going, too. Kaylie, Layla, Mei, Kiyoko, Louise. Let's go." Before taking off, she turned to Lion. "Your team should come, too."  
She jumped into the air and took off followed by the rest of her team. Lion took to the air shortly after, prompting his team to follow.

* * *

Flying at Mach 4.5, Kye, Yoshika, Rei, Mio, and Yami arrived just over a minute faster than the other witches, who were flying at about Mach 3.5.

"Holy mother of neuroi." Rei commented after seeing an unbelievable amount of neuroi spanning across the battlefield and into the horizon beyond.

Kye took the lead and immediately commanded the radio to patch her through to the entire allied force in the battle. "This is Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji. I'll be taking command of this operation. The 501st Joint Fighter Wing has arrived. You can tell us apart by our unique suits and auras. The only order I have is stay clear of us. We will be drawing a lot of fire, thus it will be unsafe to be near us. Continue your battle strategy otherwise."

Kye pulled her new rifle to firing position and reached into her ammo pouch after tapping Mio on the shoulder.

"What IS that rifle?" Mio asked. She knew why Kye tapped her shoulder, but had no clue what the rifle was capable of.

"It looks like my AMMP rifle." Lynne piped up. "But it's barrel is a lot bigger."

"It's an anti-material rifle like yours, but not multipurpose." Kye said. "This rifle uses a larger round than most... quite a bit larger actually. The round it uses is unique. It's the 25mm Shockwave round."

"Twenty five mil?!" Lynne said, clearly surprised. She watched as Kye pulled the massive round out of her pouch.

"This rifle is my own design. I made it specifically to go along with the SFS." Kye said as she loaded the round. Her rifle was a single shot bolt action.

The witches were still at a long range from the neuroi, out of range of even Lynne's rifle.

"There's no way even a normal witch could handle a gun that powerful." Lynne said. "My fifty caliber rounds are roughly thirteen mil. The kick must be..."

"Yep. You all probably should fall back a few meters. I'm basically firing a sniper cannon here." Kye said as she took aim. "Don't try this at home kiddos."

A thundering boom could be heard across the battlefield after she pulled the trigger. The bullet traveled fast, much faster than any of the witches could fly. One second was all the round needed to do its damage.

Kye aimed at the heart of a colossal neuroi, at its core. She had aimed using the Magic Eye she copied from Mio moments prior. The round tore through the neuroi like butter and didn't stop. She destroyed a few smaller neuroi both in front of and behind her target. The round itself seemed to have a strong gravitational pull that decimated anything caught within several meters of its trail. Every neuroi caught in its path shattered into white fragments, including the colossal neuroi. "That round. It was just like..." Mio started, but was interrupted.

"The Shockwave Strike." Kye said. "It's not called the 25mm Shockwave for nothing. Every round is imbued with magic."

"What brought you to craft such a weapon?" Minna asked.

"I was looking at some stuff on the internet a few weeks ago and came across the phrase "Creative use of game mechanics." and thought of something. If these kids can do odd and creative things in games that normally wouldn't seem possible, why can't I do the same? The SFS was the perfect "mechanic" to try out my idea with. I tested it in secret and got results far better than I expected, as you just witnessed. The only drawback is these rounds are so large that I can't carry very many of them and the gun heats up so much that I can't fire more than one every five minutes."

"Amazing." Lynne said.

Kye floated over to Lynne and handed the massive barreled rifle and its ammo pouch to Lynne. "I won't be able to use it again after I go into close quarters, so I'd like you to take it for now. You can put it to better even better use with your Ballistic Magic."

Lynne took the powerful rifle, albeit reluctantly.

"Five minutes between shots or you'll overheat and possibly melt the barrel." Kye said.

"Are you sure you don't want to keep it?" Lynne asked.

"I have another new trick up my sleeves" She said, referring to the several short swords strapped to her body, two to each leg, one on each hip, and one on her lower back with the hilt sticking out to the right, totaling seven. She spread her attention back to all of the Strike Witches. "Speaking of my new trick. There's a multiple witch combination attack that involves these swords. I'll need the help of seven other witches to perform it, and only those with SFS, but until then..." Her seven shorter swords floated out of their sheathes and started rotating around her body, then she drew both her Jouten and Akarimaru before flying off at high speed toward the neuroi.

The other witches were left somewhat dumbfounded at Kye. This was overboard, even for her.

"That shot... how far was it?" Trude asked, looking at Lynne.

"About three kilometers." Lynne said. "It's the longest shot I've ever seen. I can only hit something that far if I control the shot with magic."

"Is it just me, or is she always pulling something out of a bag of tricks?" Erica said.

"Keep in mind, she a lot of experience." Yami said. "Her mortal body may only be thirty five years old, but she has recovered ten thousand years worth of memories from her past life as my sister, Princess Kye Akari. She's only beginning to use her old techniques. The seven swords are one of her more unique styles."

"What about the gun?" Trude asked.

"Spur of the moment idea... She can surprise even me sometimes." Yami draw both of her swords. "Anyway, I'm going in."

"Before you go." Minna said. "I want to know something. You are ten thousand years old yourself. How have you lived this long? Are you immortal?"

"Uh... sorta. Now's not the time for that. We have an enemy to battle." Yami flew off.

"She's right. Let's go, ladies." Minna said.

The witches of the 511th arrived just after Minna and the other Strike Witches joined the battle and jumped straight in with them. All three 511th teams had arrived together.

"Auras free, blade spells free." Yusu said, directing her team.

"Time to test out my new technique." Louise said.

"What is it?" Yusu asked.

"I worked on it with Perrine. It's an aura, but not like yours." She said as an aura of lightning engulfed her body and took off toward the mass of neuroi.

Mei and Yoko glanced at each other after watching Louise activate her new lightning aura. "Let's do it." Flames surrounded Mei's body just as a mix of water and ice surrounded Yoko's body before they flew off toward the battle, soon followed by the rest of the witches.

'Everyone has new stuff...' Yusu thought in midflight with a hint of annoyance.

* * *

Kye hit the battlefield first and was very visible. Her basic golden aura covered her free floating swords as well as her body, effectively giving her position away to everyone, friend and foe alike. It seemed like every neuroi in a five hundred meter radius turned and fired on her.

She pushed her aura from the basic golden to the green aura. Even her swords started glowing green. In a mix of multiple green shields, seven free floating green aura empowered swords, and the green aura covering her body, every neuroi beam was reflected. Some neuroi managed to dodge the reflected beams, but most were hit by their own beams and destroyed.

The self-destroyed neuroi didn't amount to much compared to the total force, however.

"There's too many to just kill randomly." Kye said over the intercom. "Rei, Mio, you are on large type detail, Yoshika, Yami, you are on super large type, and I'll be on medium type detail. Minna, you cover targets for everyone else."

"On it." Minna said as she started giving orders to the others.

* * *

Rei and Mio immediately started taking out large type neuroi one by one using teamwork and old-fashioned gunfire. Mio pinpointed the core and the two flanked their target until one of them hit the core.

Using the SFS targeting system, Mio found the cores and actively relayed and updated the information on core locations, giving both her and Rei the advantage. They wasted no ammo, taking only a few shots reveal the core and another couple to destroy it.

* * *

Yoshika and Yami were a bit less forgiving. The super large type neuroi required a stronger attack. The two used the blue aura and the Reppuzan to take out most of their targets, but had to improvise against some of more oddly shaped targets, namely the ones shaped like large worms. They could slice the worm neuroi in two, but they would just remerge as if nothing had happened. The worm shaped neuroi never straightened out, but instead flew a path resembling a squiggly line.

"This one won't stay still!" Yoshika said.

"I have a trick up my sleeve for something like this." Yami said. She formed a blue orb of magic in her left hand and ran it over her sword. "Check this out." She swung her sword in the general vicinity of the worm shaped neuroi, releasing several blasts of magic in the process. Each blast homed in on a section of the worm neuroi and blew several holes, severing the worm into several parts.

Yoshika spotted all five cores and quickly shot a high-speed Distant Cut attack at each one. The neuroi shattered.

"Nice move." Yoshika said.

"Getting it to split like that was the hard part." Yami said. "Took a few days of training. WATCH OUT!" Another super large type had flown up to Yoshika from above without her noticing.

Yoshika flipped around and pushed her aura to the dark red stage just before the neuroi attacked. She absorbed the beams and formed several shields, each pointing at the neuroi, before firing return beams and tearing several holes through it. The beams destroyed two of the cores, causing the remaining three to merge.

Yami got a glimpse of the merged core before it dipped under the neuroi's armor and fired a full powered Reppuzan. Her attack destroyed the core, leaving behind only neuroi fragments.

* * *

Louise, with her lightning aura active, caught up to Perrine, prompting her to activate her lightning aura as well. In tandem, the two released an omni-directional blast of lightning that instantly fried every neuroi short of large type.

Two large types survived their initial attack, but some swift gunfire finished off their exposed cores.

Mei and Yoko were nearby, using their fire and ice magic in combination with their gunfire to burn and freeze several smaller neuroi in rapid succession, something they could only manage using their respective fire and ice auras.

Mei's burnt targets were crisped over, but she didn't stop there. She continued burning her targets until their armor melted away, leaving only their cores intact, at least until her gunfire corrected that.

Yoko's targets were completely iced over and falling from the sky. She chased after her neuroi popsicles with open gunfire. Her ice shells shattered, the neuroi's armor along with it, leaving only cores to fall to the ground. Her quick reaction with her gun left the cores shattered.

* * *

The witches destroyed several hundred neuroi, but had barely even dented the overall force. Kye had sheathed her floating swords and stopped attacking for at least ten minutes before copying Minna's magic and flying up to an extremely high altitude to observe the battle.

'This is getting nowhere.' She thought to herself. 'For the last several minutes more neuroi have arrived on this battlefield than have been destroyed. Even if Yami, Yoshika, and I turn it up to aura stage six, there's no guarantee we'll be able to even the field.

With Lynne using the 25mm Shockwave rifle, the skies are staying clear of colossal sized neuroi. Only one every five minutes has arrived, but with it come at least a hundred others of various classes. The 501st is good, but even we can't destroy that many fast enough, especially considering the insane amount of them already here.

Even with Minna's magic, counting them all is taking a little time. So far I've counted over two thousand neuroi, and even at our maximum output, it would take a few hours to destroy that many. That's if the enemy doesn't wound or kill any of us and also if we can fight at full power for that long, neither of which is likely.

No witch outside the 501st can fight continuously for an hour, probably not even half an hour. I'm sure most of the witches on this battlefield are at their limit. Our descendants will likely be able to hold out for another fifteen to twenty minutes, but what happens after that? Even the Strike Witches can't last for more than another half an hour, and we'll need several hours to turn the tables. We are fighting a losing battle.'

Kye observed for a few more minutes before receiving a call from headquarters.

"Lieutenant General Miyafuji, this is Major Johnson at Allied Headquarters in Britannia."

"General Miyafuji here, what do you need?"

"I'm relaying this message on behalf of General Alden." The Major said. "He has issued orders to launch a nuclear strike on the neuroi at your battlefield and asks that you evacuate your forces within ten minutes."

"WHAT? Nuclear weapons?" Kye said in a borderline scream. "Is he insane? You tell him I said to call off that strike. Over half of the witch force here are low on magic. None of them can fly far enough to escape the blast radius."

"I am sorry, ma'am, but General Alden outranks you. I can relay your message, but it is very unlikely that he will change his mind."

"You tell him this then." Kye said angrily. "I can track those missiles before they even leave their silos. I will personally chase them down and destroy them before any of them reach my witches."

"I wish you luck, General Miyafuji. Although I am personally against this order, I can do nothing about it. Please evacuate as many as possible!"

"Thanks for the warning, Major." Kye said before ending the transmission. "Minna, did you get all that?"

"Yes, I did, and so did the entire witch force here on this battle."

"Good." Kye said without skipping a beat. "Yami, you're with me. We have to intercept the missiles before they arrive."

"There's two missiles already in route." Yami said. "I just transmitted the data from the SFS's detection system to everyone."

Kye was out of sight before Yami finished her sentence. She quickly took off after Kye, using her own stage six aura to speed up. As soon as she caught up, Kye pushed her aura up to the sixth stage as well and matched speed. Both were flying beyond Mach 5.

Yoshika and the others watched from the battlefield as a mushroom cloud appeared in the distance, much to their horror.

"MOM!" Rei screamed as she attempted to fly toward the far off explosion, held back by Mio and Yoshika, both of which had trouble holding themselves back.

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Lightning Aura** - Perrine and Louise (Not an energy projection aura)

**Joint Magic Technique: Tonnerre Wave** - Perrine and Louise (Only usable by the two while working together) - Emits a powerful omni-direction blast of lightning.

**Fire Aura** - Mei (Not an energy projection aura)

**Magic Technique: Fire ****Empowerement** - Mei (only usable while the Fire Aura is active) - Empowers gunfire with fire magic.

**Ice Aura** - Kiyoko (Not and energy projection aura)

**Magic Technique: Ice Empowerement** - Kiyoko (only usable while the Ice aura is active) - Empowers gunfire with ice magic.

**Magic Technique: Magic Blastwave** - Yami - Requires a catalyst (her sword usually). Fires a magic blast that splits from the catalyst and homes in on targets or target areas predetermined by the user.

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

Major Johnson - Minor character introduced only to relay a message to Kye from General Alden.

General Alden - Minor character in charge of the Allied Force's nuclear armaments.

* * *

**Equipment Introduced**

**25 MM Shockwave Rifle** (twenty five millimeter) - Only capable of firing one 25 MM Shockwave round every five minutes, no other function. This rifle is basically a mix between a sniper rifle and cannon.

**25 MM Shockwave Ammunition** - Only capable of being fired from unique 25 MM Shockwave Rifle. The round itself travels at a hypersonic velocity and, similar to the Shockwave Strike technique that is the source of the round's design, destroys anything caught within a few meters of the round's travel path. The full extent of this round's piercing power is unknown even to Kye, who created it.

**Floating Swords** (Suspended and controlled with magic) - Seven wakizashis in total (Japanese sword sword). These swords are magically controlled by the user and act as an extension of the user's body, reacting in tandem to the user's thoughts, instantaneously. Any magic in effect on the user is mirrored by the swords as well. Blades Spells can be fired from them, and they also gain the effects of any energy projection aura (or the aura generated by the SFS, if there is a lack of an energy projection aura) the user may have have active.

* * *

**It appears I have pulled another two week update on my readers. I apologize for that. I've been fairly busy lately. I do not like skipping weeks, but I would rather push a chapter back a week when time is constraining than release a sloppy mess on time. I will start leaving messages at the top of my profile when schedules chapter released are being pushed back, so if I don't have a chapter released before any given Friday morning (sometimes I will have a chapter done late Thursday and the clock will have rolled over to Friday before it's up) check my profile for status updates.**

**The group's destination has been changed to their original base in the Dover straight on the border of Britannia. As everyone that has watched the anime knows, part of the base was torn up by a beam fired from the Warlock. Kye had the based repaired in 1947. The battle in this chapter will pour over into the next chapter as will the result of the nuclear strikes. The outcome of this battle is looking grim.**

**IF YOU DIDN'T SEE MY NOTE AT THE TOP, HERE IT IS AGAIN: Two names have been changed. Miekori has been shorted to Mie and corrected to Mei. Kiyori has been changed to Kiyoko and nicknamed Yoko. This will be retroactively corrected later and noted in the Author's Notes of each chapter.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	23. Chapter 23: From All Sides

**Note: Remember Miekori and Kiyori have had their names changed to Mei and Kiyoko (Yoko for short).**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 23: From All Sides

June 20th, 2012

* * *

Yoshika and the others watched from the battlefield as a mushroom cloud appeared in the distance, much to their horror.

"MOM!" Rei screamed as she attempted to fly toward the far off explosion, held back by Mio and Yoshika, both of which had trouble holding themselves back.

* * *

Minutes earlier...

"Let's go." A witch wearing a silver and black Striker Flight Suit said. She had a katana on her back. "All three teams, head for the battlefield. I'll take care of the launch facility.

"Right away, General Yuko."

A total of nineteen witches were grouped up. Each had a Striker Flight Suit, and each had a color in common, black, though their primary colors were more diverse.

Eighteen of the witches turned and headed toward the battlefield were the Allied Forces were fighting against over two thousand neuroi. As much as they didn't want to help, the Dark Witches did not want their targets getting killed by the hands of an enemy, and while not always the case, sometimes the enemy of an enemy can be a friend.

The witch in charge, Yuko, turned and headed toward Britannia. She was flying at a high speed and arrived at the missile silos in only minutes, albeit too late to prevent two intercontinental ballistic missiles from being launched, each carrying a nuclear warhead.

Yuko decided to leave them be for the moment and deal with the missile silos first. A few waves of magic launched from her sword dealt with the silos swiftly. If the base wanted to launch more missiles, they would have to repair the silos first. They could no longer be opened.

With the threat of more launches eliminated, she flew off after the two missiles already launched. She would have to fly fast to reach them before they made it to orbit. She managed to catch up, but didn't expect two other witches, Kye and Yami, to already be there.

'Shit, I can't let them recognize me.' Yuko thought as she pulled a bandana out of her pouch and tied it across her face, hiding all but her eyes.

"How exactly do we deal with these things?" Kye said.

Yami didn't respond with words, but with action. She hit one of the large missiles with a Reppuzan aimed at the rear, cutting off its booster and sending the missile straight downward. The missiles had flown far enough to reach the water, so they left it alone to explode harmlessly above the sea. Kye, Yami, and still unknown to the others, Yuko, flew high, to about sixty thousand meters or nearly two hundred thousand feet, to put a safe distance between them and the blast.

The explosion did manage to cut off their communications with the other witches, however. How was unknown, but Yami had an idea.

The two pushed the thought to the back of their heads and focused on the second missile, which was near orbit. Yuko decided to make her presence known.

She had no choice but to destroy the warhead before it reached a height they could not follow, and possibly set it off. She activated the white aura before moving in.

She flew up to Yami and Kye before moving on to the warhead. "You two, stay near me for the time being. I'm going to destroy this one and phase us so we don't get obliterate by the blast."

The two witches gave the new witch a confused glance, curious to several things, but decided it wasn't the time to ask questions. Yuko fired a high speed sword attack, which Kye immediately recognized as Yohisko Nishizawa's Sonic Slash, the ultimate version of the Fumika Kitagou's Distant Cut.

Her attack sliced the missile in two from bottom up, and, as she predicted, set it off. Yuko grabbed both Kye and Yami and used her magic ability to phase them.

About one minute later, Yuko released her phasing magic and let go of Kye and Yami.

'That was space magic.' Kye thought.

"I already took care of the missile silo. There will be no more launches for today. There is radiation here now, so keep your auras active until you clear the blast radius. I'm heading to the battlefield to join in." Yuko said.

"Who are you?" Kye said before realizing that the new witch was wearing a suit. "Wait..."

"Yes, I'm a Dark Witch. For now, we are on the same side. I've already sent the other eighteen Dark Witches to the battlefield, which they probably have already arrived."

"The same side? I don't believe you."

"Whether or not you believe it does not matter. What's important is we get to the battlefield and turn the tide. I don't care if you don't trust me, but if you want to save your friends, you may want to get moving." Yuko said before bolting off toward the battlefield.

Safe from nuclear threat for the time being, Kye and Yami turned back to the battlefield as well.

"Put me through to General Alden." Kye said over her intercom.

"One second, ma'am..."

"You are speaking to him."

"To General Alden?" Kye asked.

"Yes, General Miyafuji."

"I will only say this once, so you had better listen. If you launch anymore nuclear warheads by any means, including but not limited to ICBMs, SLBMs, or warheads delivered by bomber aircraft, anything... I will destroy it and come find you in person. I will not tolerate threats to the witches."

"The neuroi threat in Gallia is too great. We had no choice. The other Generals agreed..."

"I don't give a damn. You launch another and you will know what it's like to be a neuroi in front of my blade. Do I make myself clear? Good." She cut off the intercom link to Alden and changed the frequency to another, to Xala. "Xala, this is Kye, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear."

"How far from Gallia are you?"

"Under five minutes away at max flight speed."

"Do you know about the battle taking place near the old base of the 506th Joint Fighter Wing?"

"Yes. A team of my forces just succeeded in cutting off their reinforcements, actually."

"Will you be able to join that battle soon?"

"We are already in transit and should be there soon."

"Good. Be on your guard when you get there. The Dark Witches will be present as well."

"Will do, Kye. See you there." Xala said before the two cut off their transmission.

Yami flew ahead and had already made it back to the battlefield, prompting Kye to kick her speed back above Mach 5.

* * *

"General Kye Miyafuji, this is the Dark Witches leader." Yuko said. "My teams have already started their counterattack."

"Good." Kye said. She had just arrived on the battlefield. "The more powerful witches on my side are still combat capable, but won't be able to fight for too much longer. Xala's forces are on the way, too, and will likely be here in a minute or two. They are blue neuroi, so please make sure your forces hold their fire against them. The blue neuroi will only fire on the red neuroi."

"Roger." Yuko said.

'It looks like a few of the 511th and all of the 501st can still fight.' Kye thought. 'Lion, Fried, Ally, Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Mie, Yoko, and Louise, as well as a few European 511th members I don't recognize.' She considered options for a moment before giving orders. "Lion, Fried, Ally, and the remaining 511th European members, team up and watch each other's backs. Lion, you are in charge of that group. 511th Fuso members, use the strongest auras you can muster. Louise stick with Perrine."

"Yes, ma'am." The various 511th witches and wizards responded.

"I want to see 501st members in teams." Kye said. "You know your usual, except Louise will be with Perrine instead of Lynne, who should stay back and fire from long range. Yoshika, Yami, Rei, Mio, time to go at it strong."

"But, I haven't mastered it yet." Mio said.

"Me neither. I still need to work on..."

"Don't care. We have no choice. Push it as hard as you can."

Reluctantly, Mio and Rei pushed their auras beyond the white stage, both managing to reach the true golden stage.

"Good, Mio with Yami, Rei with Yoshika. I'm on my own." Kye said. "Push yourself, but don't go overboard."

"What about you?" Yoshika asked.

"It's time I put this to a real test." Kye said as her aura flared.

"Kye! You can't!" Yami argued. "That will put too much stress on your body. You'll pass out in five minutes even at full power."

"I know." Kye said. "With the combined might of our best, the Dark Witches, and Xala's forces, we just might have enough firepower to turn the tide."  
Her aura flared again, this time with light and dark sparks, just as she had before, a few times before transforming into a solid silver state.

"The stage seven aura that is only usable by the Crown Princess." Yami said. She kept her next thought to herself. 'It's a good thing Sky Silk has an enormous threshold for magic power. I can't even overload it in the Realm of Light.'

Kye drew only Jouten from its sheath and bolted toward her target, reaching it in the blink of an eye. She decimated a large type neuroi just from the air pressure of her sword swing.

"Minna, I need an accurate count on the remaining neuroi forces." Kye said while destroying three more large types with relative ease. "Only large type and up."

Minna remained quiet for a moment, using her magic to count the neuroi. "Five Colossal, thirty two Super Large with multiple cores, sixty seven Super Large with single cores, and three hundred twenty three large types. For humanoids, there is one Class Ten, four Class Nine, twenty four Class Eight, and fifty eight Class Seven."

"Thanks." Kye said. "I'm going after the Colossal types first."

"She's crazy." Erica said.

"She's also about to get fired on!" Minna said. "Heads up!"

Kye ignored the warning and was soon on the receiving end of over two hundred neuroi beams, none of which penetrated her aura and all of which reflected back to their sources. At least half of the neuroi that fired on her were destroyed by their own attacks.

She didn't even flinch at the abnormally large amount of incoming beams and continued toward her target without a moment's pause. She completely ignored the other neuroi in between her and the nearest colossal sized neuroi, which soon was completely decimated by a Zen Aura empowered Shockwave Strike. She continued on to her next target.

Yami glanced at a counter she had displayed on a small screen in front of her left eye. It read four minutes, forty seconds remaining. "Gotta work fast. Magic Barrage!"

She fired a beam of magic into the air that split into several smaller beams and rained down upon her targets. The cores of several neuroi were revealed, giving her and the other witches the chance to take out a large portion of the surrounding enemy neuroi.

Erica took the stage next. With her glaive in hand, she barreled through a group of smaller neuroi, destroying them with her Sturm and sending smaller gusts of air outward at other targets with her glaive. She controlled each gust of air and stopped them short before they had a chance to hit their target.

She quickly spun her glaive above her head, causing the smaller gusts of wind to swirl around in a large circle and merge together. She had to put all of her focus into her magic now to keep the wind under control. She expanded the wind both upward and downward. The wind was powerful enough to pull in any neuroi within one hundred meters and tear them apart, core and all.

* * *

A short distance away, one of the Dark Witch teams were engaging targets of their own. Ren, leader of the first team, had just finished off a super large type and coordinated her team for their next target.

"Aira, Aero, you two take the worm shaped one. The rest of you take the jet shaped one." Her five team members flew off toward their respective targets and systematically destroyed them in seconds. Ren and her team moved on.

Dark Witch Team Three leader, Katsu, was a bit wilder. She left her second in command, Nami, to coordinate the team. Katsu had also mastered the white aura and carried two weapons, a spear and a katana. She picked her spear first and charged after the first super large type nearby.

"Cloud Spark!" She converged her magic at the tip of her spear and split her target in two, core and all.

"Cloud Spark?" Mio said, having heard Katsu say the name of her attack over the intercom. "But that's Ayaka's spell."

"Katsu Kuroe at your service, General Sakamoto." Katsu said. She switched her weapons and charged toward her next target. "Reppuzan!"

'She's as wild as Ayaka when she first used the Cloud Spark to take down a large type back when large types were hard to fight.' Mio thought, reminiscing somewhat.

* * *

Yoshika had just destroyed three humanoid neuroi and charged after a forth. The neuroi tried all it could, firing concentrated beams at her, but she merely batted them away with her sword and left the neuroi in two cleanly cut pieces.

As soon as she destroyed her forth target, several more turned their attention to her. None were strong enough to penetrate her True Golden Aura and were dealt with swiftly.

She looked up to check on Kye after Yami relayed that her time was down to three minutes. Kye had already destroyed all five colossal neuroi and moved on to the humanoid neuroi.

Yoshika flew up to meet Kye and coordinate their next attack, but were interrupted before they could pick any targets as Xala and her forces had just shown up.

"You two have at it, I can't waste any time with this aura." Kye said. She flew downward a bit and saw a prime opportunity. There was a large group of neuroi of varying sizes and classes but no witch anywhere near them. "Jackpot." She formed a silver ball of magic and dropped it straight down.

She gained the attention of every witch with a Strike Flight Suit. Every suit gave off a warning to move away. Even Yami was surprised at the power density of Kye's attack, and for good reason.

The ball exploded once it reached the center of the large group and disintegrated every neuroi within a five hundred meter radius.

"What the hell..." Mio said.

"That's the power of the Zen Aura." Yami said. "She can only use it for five minutes, but while active, she can use Zen Magic."

"Zen Magic?"

"It's a combination of all three types of raw magic... light magic, dark magic, and neutral magic. Neutral magic is what I normally use."

The other witches were speechless.

"She just destroyed over three hundred neuroi with one attack." Minna said. "Granted, a lot of them were drones, small types, and medium types, but still... three hundred?"

Yoshika shook the feat off and turned to Xala. "How many do you have on your side now?"

"Quite a few." Xala said. "Xelia, Xia, and I were able to convert the neuroi in Afrika. We have five hives on our side now. I brought only my elite fighters with me here. In addition to myself, Xelia, and Xia, I have five more Class Nine and twenty more Class Eight humanoid types with me. They have already engaged and are swiftly destroying the red neuroi."

"Good. We can... watch out!" Yoshika pushed Xala to the side just in time to redirect an oddly powerful neuroi beam. She looked for the source, and didn't have to look for long. "That neuroi..."

"It's a Class Ten." Xala said. "I know this one, too. He served with my team back in 1945."

The new neuroi slowly approached Yoshika and Xala. "Hello, Commander Xala."

"It's been a while, Captain Xeal, or I suppose you have been promoted to Commander now?"

"Indeed. I heard you defeated Xan. My congratulations on becoming a Super Elite... or I suppose Class Ten as the humans would classify."

"Surrender. There is no need for further death here today." Xala offered.

"I really did like working with you Xala, but I'm afraid our views are different now." Xeal said. "I would say you are a traitor, but you would say the same thing to me. Regardless of what we say, in the end we will fight. So why don't we skip the foreplay and get straight to it, shall we?"

"You always did like the direct approach." Xala said.

"I'll take him, Xala." Kye said as she charged toward them.

"No, Miss Kye." Xala said. "I know you have more than adequate power to defeat him, but we have a history together and a score to settle."

"Alright then." Kye said. "I'll just play with his underlings then."

* * *

Xala and Xeal both formed neuroi swords and immediately attacked. The two exchanged several blows, and neither seemed to be gaining ground on the other.  
Both had extensive knowledge in neuroi versions of witch techniques, including the neuroi version of the Reppuzan, Distant Cut, Power Wave, and even Kye's Shadow Barrage.

Xala and Xeal kept each other on their toes as they fought. They exchanged several attacks and were finally forced to start unveiling new techniques.

Xeal took the spotlight first, quickly flying in a circle around Xala, leaving behind a ring of energy. "Sphere." The ring rotated in a circle, forming a sphere and encasing Xala. It then shrank in size, leaving Xala no room for error. She was forced to fire a concentrated beam through the sphere to break out, but drained a good portion of her energy reserve.

Xala made sure to take advantage of Xeal's short surprise and formed her own attack. Ten spears of blue energy formed around Xala as she held her right hand toward Xeal. "Focal Point." Her attack moved quickly, leaving chance for avoidance. Xeal was torn up by Xala's overwhelming attack, but his core remained intact, allowing him to regenerate his body, but not his weapon.

"Well done, Xala. I am beaten." Xeal said. "What will you do now?"

"Order your forces to retreat." Xala said. "I will not pursue your life if you retreat now."

"A mutual benefit I see." Xeal said. He turned and started to fly away, but stopped for a moment before continuing. "So be it then. I look forward to our next encounter. Until then." He left, and upon his orders, so did the remaining neuroi force. Within only a few minutes, the sky was vacant of red neuroi.

Kye, Yami, Yoshika, Rei, and Mio met up with the Dark Witches leader and Blue Neuroi leaders after the coast was clear.

"What now?" Kye asked, directing her question at Ren, Katsu, and the other two Dark Witch leaders, whose names she did not know.

Yuko removed her bandana, allowing Yami and Kye to see her. They immediately recognized her.

"Yuko?" Yami said, barely managing to speak from her surprise. "You're a Dark Witch?"

"Is it really that big of a surprise, mother?" Yuko said.

"Mother?" Yoshika asked.

"Meet Yuko Akari... my daughter." Yami said.

"Surely you realized what would happen when you left me in the Realm of Light with Uncle Zen." Yuko said. "Anyway, not important. The Dark Witches will not engage the Strike Witches today. We believe in fair fights. As both of our groups are drained quite a bit, we will leave as we are, but know this. We will not have a friendly meeting in the future." She turned and flew away, followed soon by the other eighteen Dark Witches.

"Yuko!" Yami tried to fly after her, but Kye held her back.

"Leave her be." Kye said. "She has her reasons. Come to terms with her when the time is right."

"But..." Yami started to argue, but couldn't say another word.

Yoshika and the others didn't know what to think of the new revelation. Their leader was Yami's daughter, and one of the individual team leaders was somehow related to their old friend, Ayaka Kuroe.

"We have a lot to discuss." Minna said. "We'll figure all of this out back at base. Xala, will you be joining us?"

"Sure."

"Good." Minna said. She patched her intercom through to all of the Allied Forces present in the area. "This is Brigadier General Minna Dietlinde Wilcke, Commander of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. This battle is over. Everyone fought well and has more than earned some time for rest. For now, what you do is up to your individual commanders, but you will likely receive orders from Britannia HQ within the next few days. All forces, return to base."

"Rei, can you carry me back to base?" Kye asked. She looked exhausted. Rei only nodded and allowed her mother to piggyback.

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Magic Technique: Phase (Space Magic)** - Yuko Akari - Allows the user to phase herself and anyone she touches to a pocket dimension for up to one minute.

**True Golden Aura **- Mio (Though stated she hasn't completely mastered it and how she obtained it is unknown)

**True Golden Aura** - Rei (Though stated she hasn't completely mastered it and how she obtained it is unknown)

**Zen Aura** - Kye (Previously introduced, but first time used in battle)

**Ancient Magic Ability: Zen Magic** - Kye - Combination of Light Magic, Dark Magic, and Neutral Magic

**Ancient Magic Technique: Zen Explosion** - Kye - Releases a small orb of silver magic that explodes on the user's command.

**Ultimate Magic Technique: Magic Barrage** - Yami - Fires a single beam of magic that splits into several beams and rains down on the enemy.

**Ultimate Magic/Weapon Technique Variant: Great Sturm with Glaive** - Erica - Generates several small gusts of air that rotate and merge together forming one large mass of wind controlled by the user. Requires intense concentration.

**Blade Spell: Cloud Spark** - Dark Witch Katsu

**Blade Spell: Reppuzan** - Dark Witch Katsu

**Elite Neuroi Technique: Sphere** - Xeal - Forms a ring of energy that rotates, forming a sphere that shrinks in size, trapping the target within.

**Elite Neuroi Technique: Focal Point** - Xala - Generates ten powerful spears of energy that fire simultaneously and converge on focal point of the attack, the target.

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

Yuko Akari - Leader of the Dark Witches (Not to be confused with Yuko Miyafuji)

Dark Witch Ren - Leader of Team One (Already introduced)  
Dark Witch Aira - Team One Second in Command (Already introduced)  
Dark Wizard Aero - Member of Team One  
Three Unnamed Members of Team One

Unnamed Leader of Dark Witch Team Two  
Unnamed Second in Command of Dark Witch Team Two  
Four unnamed Members of Team Two

Dark Witch Katsu - Leader of Team Three (Formally named Katsu Kuroe, great granddaughter of Ayaka Kuroe)  
Dark Witch Nami - Team Three Second in Command  
Dark Witch Aiko - Member of Team Three  
Dark Witch Eiko - Member of Team Three  
Two unnamed Members of Team Three

Xeal - Commander of the European Neuroi Invasion Force

* * *

**A chapter out on time! And early in the week at that. This wraps up the Gallia Neuroi Invasion. All of the Dark Witches have made their appearance, though most of them have yet to have their names revealed. You may notice that all of them that are named have Fuso names, this is intended.**

**The technique Yuko used to save Kye and Yami from the second explosion is a Space Magic technique called Phase. How Yuko is able to use Space Magic will remain a secret for now, but that won't stop Kye from speculating. No witch can survive a nuclear explosion if they are caught in it, not even with the Zen Aura.**

**The Zen Aura has finally seen some real battle, and it is very powerful, though comes at a cost. It can only be used for five minutes before the user blacks out from magic drain. While active, though, the user has access to an Ancient Magic known as Zen Magic.**

**Xala got some more screen time! She is the leader of the Blue Neuroi (obviously) and has a history with Commander Xeal. (Pronounce that name however you wish, I'm not even sure how to sound it out phonetically.)**

**Overall, this chapter added a nice little power boost to a few witches and displayed some new techniques. One thing that hasn't happened yet in this story: Yoshika has not received any actual power boosts, only new techniques.**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	24. Chapter 24: Kamiko

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 24: Kamiko

June 21st, 2012

* * *

The witches settled into their original base in Britannia. It still had the emblem of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing above the hangar, among other places.  
Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine walked around the base together for a while the day after the big battle in Gallia, reminiscing about their time here in 1944.

Eventually, they made it to the edge of the airstrip and sat down together, Yoshika in the middle, gazing across the water.

"It feels like it's been a lifetime." Yoshika said. "I remember when I first joined the Strike Witches."

"You were such a klutz." Perrine said. "You two couldn't last very long in the air before you got exhausted."

"Yeah."

"You helped me a lot, Yoshika." Lynne said. "Both of you."

Perrine held her arm out toward the sea with her hand open. Little sparks jumped around her hand. She glanced over to Yoshika and Lynne with a happy expression. "Remember when I used to complain that Tonnerre would mess up my hair?"

The girls shared a laugh together before returning their gazes to the sea.

"I remember when you used it inside the Akagi when the Warlock controlled it." Yoshika said.

"And you threw your striker at the core." Lynne added.

"We've come a long way since our time here." Perrine said. "We owe a lot to Kye."

"Without her, none of us would have been able to be witches after we turned twenty."

"She helped us develop our magic into something stronger than anything ever thought possible. I always did wonder how she always seemed to know how to do everything."

Yoshika remained silent as Perrine and Lynne carried on for a few minutes. The two talked about various things, from their antics in this base, to their treasure hunt in Romagna, to the hive battles they fought over Venezia, Fuso, Egypt, Orussia, and finally the mother hive near Fuso again, and all the fun they had along the way.

Yoshika finally muttered something. "Zen Serenity."

"What?" Lynne said. "Did you say something Yoshika?"

"Speak up! We couldn't hear you." Perrine gave her a hard stare.

"Sorry." Yoshika said. "Zen Serenity."

"What's that?"

"It's a spell. Kye mentioned it once. It's supposed to calm and pacify anything it touches. She wants me to master it with her, but neither of us even knows where to start."

"If you can, though... maybe we can end this war." Lynne said.

"Yeah." Yoshika turned her head up to the sky and laid down on her back, soon followed by the other two girls. "We're all in our twenties now, and Kye... or her mortal form anyway is in her thirties. How long will our magic stay strong?"

The girls laid in silence for a little while, gazing into the sky and watching the clouds pass by.

"I wish this never happened." Perrine said.

"What's that?" Lynne asked.

"This whole time travel thing. I feel so robbed."

Lynne leaned up and looked over at Perrine. She saw a tear in one of her eyes. Yoshika had her eyes closed, but she knew what Perrine meant.

"Louise." Lynne said. "And Diana, and Ayame."

"Yes."

Lynne heard footsteps and saw Sanya and Eila walking up, and Lucchini and Rei weren't far behind.

"At least your daughters are still alive." Eila said. "Aina and Anna are dead now."

"Eila... you shouldn't." Sanya pulled at her sleeve, trying to hold her back.

"It's okay, Sanya." Yoshika said. "It's..."

"No." Rei said. "It's not fair. Even if some of them are dead now, they lived their lives. They had a few years with their mothers. All of them except Kamiko..." Rei was crying by the end of that. She couldn't bare to look at the other girls and just jumped in the air and took off to the east, skimming along the water.

"What..." Lucchini said. "Just happened?"

"She's right." Yoshika said. "Some of our daughters were five years old."

"Mine was the second youngest at three years old." Lucchini added.

"But Rei... She had just become a mother. Kamiko wasn't even two months old when we time traveled. I didn't think about that... She never had any time to be a mom like the rest of us."

"I didn't even think about that." Eila said.

The girls watched as Rei disappeared from sight.

"Poor Rei." Lynne said.

'If it were up to me, none of you would ever have come here.' Yami thought. She was watching the girls from out of sight. 'Maybe it's time to talk to Rei, though... but she's still so young. I tried talking to Kye when she was about that age, and that turned out badly. I bet Kye still draws a blank from that event.'

Yami approached the girls. "I'll go after her. Don't think anything about this. Just carry on normally." She took off after Rei, but made sure to keep her distance. 'I'll follow her and make sure she'll be okay. That's the least I can do for her.'

From the top of the base, Kye watched Yami take off after Rei. 'Yami probably still thinks that I don't know about it. I had better go, too. It'll be better if I show her... I am her mother after all.' Kye vanished without a trace.

* * *

Meanwhile, Minna, Erica, and Trude were walking around the base, reacquainting themselves. They carried on random chatter about their memories here and how the neuroi they fought back then took more effort.

"Things were so much simpler back then." Minna said. "This place is surprisingly untouched. I haven't found anything out of place."

Erica and Trude just nodded as they continued walking through the halls together.

* * *

Shirley made herself at home in the hangar. She had Minna pull a few strings the day prior to get their third generation jet strikers brought out to the Britannia base as well.

The witches had trouble admitting it, but they did miss flying striker units.

* * *

Yoshika and the others that had joined her out on the tip of the airstrip returned inside. It was just about time for dinner, and Yoshika wanted to make something special to commemorate their return to the base, provided the ingredients necessary were available.

After finding the appropriate amount of rice and other ingredients, she and Lynne set to work. Her special dinner was her typical Fuso cooking, but with a secret ingredient added that drastically changed the flavor of everything. She had made it for everyone each time they came to Fuso for the four month reunions, and never once told anyone anything about the secret ingredient.

* * *

While Yoshika and Lynne were cooking, and while everyone else was strolling around the base, greeting the younger generation as they went, Kye and Yami were chasing down Rei. The girl was flying fast and straight out over the ocean. She didn't know she was being followed.

'Why did this have to happen.' Rei thought as she continued to fly, skimming over the water's surface. Tears were rolling off her face.

Their time travel had hurt everyone. They left families and friends behind, most of which had long since died. Only some of the daughters and Yoshika's parents were left alive.

"Why!" By the time she finally stopped flying, she had unknowingly entered a storm, but that didn't bother her. She flashed back to the day after she and the others appeared in 2012.

* * *

April 6th, 2012 - Rei's Flashback

* * *

Rei finally had a chance to talk to her daughter. What was only a day ago to her, Kamiko was still just a baby, not even two months old, but standing before her now was a sixty year old Kamiko. They met on the side of the road just a little ways down from the Miyafuji Clinic.

"Hello, Rei." Kamiko said. "You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes." Rei said. She had trouble finding the right words. "I... missed it all."

Kamiko turned around and started to walk away. "If that's all you want to say, goodbye."

"Kamiko! Wait... please."

She did stop, but only for a moment. "Stop and think for a second. I'm sixty years old. I don't need a sixteen year old mother. Go be a kid again and fight those damned neuroi like you did when you were ten." Kamiko continued walking, and didn't stop.

Rei was left alone. She fell to her knees, and slowly crouched over until she was lying on the ground, on her side. Shouldn't stop herself from crying, and she stayed there until her own mother came to find her.

"Rei!" Kye said as she ran over to her crying daughter. She kneeled down and held the girl in her arms, allowing her a shoulder to cry on. "Rei, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Mom..." Rei muttered.

"Tell me, Rei. What happened?"

"I'll never be called that."

"Called what?"

Rei looked up at her mother's face, her own covered in tears. "A mom."

"Oh, Rei." Kye said, hugging her daughter.

"She said she didn't need a sixteen year old mother. My own daughter..."

"She's my granddaughter. I'll talk to her." Kye said.

"No."

Kye sighed, but did not argue. "Then we need to keep you away from her. I don't want you near her if it will affect you like this."

Rei took a moment to respond, and was barely able to even mutter it. "Okay."

* * *

June 21st, 2012

* * *

Yami and Kye finally caught up to Rei. They found her floating above the water's surface, occasionally getting splashed from waves generated by the storm.

Kye held Yami back for a moment before moving in. "Don't tell her about it. She may not need to know yet."

"How do..."

"I'll explain later, but I know." Kye interrupted Yami. "If she needs to know, I'll tell her myself."

"Okay. I'll leave it to you then." Yami said, allowing Kye to fly over to Rei alone.

Rei just floated in place as Kye approached her. "Mom..."

"I know." Kye said as she pulled Rei into a hug. "Let's go back."

"To the base?" Rei asked. "I'm not ready yet."

"No." Kye said. "To Fuso."

Rei looked at her with surprise in her eyes. "What?"

"You can't keep letting it affect you like this. It's time to confront her." Kye said.

Yami, having heard them over the intercom, turned and headed back to base, deciding to let them handle their problem.

"I can't." Rei said. "She said..."

"I know what she said, Rei, but you are her mother, regardless of age." Kye said. "You have to talk to her."

"But... she's already sixty years old."

"Age doesn't matter."

"I'm not going."

"You're going. Don't make me play the mom card." Kye said adamantly.

"Heh... that's... how can I be a mom when I'm still a kid myself!"

"I was still a kid when you were born. Now come on, let's go." Kye grabbed Rei's wrist and took off, heading east toward Fuso.

* * *

Yoshika and Lynne finished cooking the special dinner, but Kye and Rei were nowhere to be found.

Mio was on her way down to eat when Yoshika came running looking for her. "Mio!"

"Oh, hey." Mio greeted. "I heard you are using that secret ingredient for dinner."

"Yeah. I already finished cooking, Lynne helped, but I can't find Kye or Rei."

"I don't know." Mio said. "Did you check their rooms?"

"Not yet, I haven't made it that far." Yoshika said.

"Well, let's go see." Mio said.

After a quick walk through the building, they arrived at the two doors next to each other that read "Kye Miyafuji" and "Rei Miyafuji" on gold plates, just like the rest of the doors. Mio knocked on Kye's door, but got no answer. Yoshika didn't get an answer from Rei's door either.

"Maybe not."

"Wait..." Yoshika said. "Rei had her SFS on earlier. See if Kye's is in her room, I'll check Rei's."

Mio opened Kye's door. Her room was fairly empty, devoid of everything aside a dresser, bed, and a chair. She couldn't find Kye's SFS anywhere. Yoshika ran in and glanced around as well.

"Any luck?"

"It's not here." Mio said.

"I suppose you two are looking for Kye and Rei?" Yami said from the doorway.

The two turned around and met eyes with the white haired girl. "Yeah. Dinner is ready."

"You can count them out. I doubt they'll be back until this evening, or maybe not at all until tomorrow."

"They left?" Yoshika asked.

"For Fuso." Yami said. "When you and the other girls were talking about your daughters, you saw Rei fly away from the base. She's hurt about Kamiko. I'm not completely sure what's going on between them, but Kye is dragging Rei to Fuso to solve the problem."

"Kye was there?"

"She kept herself hidden from me for a while, too. Anyway, you should go down for dinner. They won't be coming."

"Well... I made enough for thirteen people and with my special ingredient, it's not as good after it sits for a while, so would you like to join us?"

"Me?" Yami was caught off guard. "Uhh. I don't know..."

"Come on, it'll give us a chance to get to know each other better." Yoshika said as started walking back, pulling Yami along with her.

"But..."

"Might as well go, Yami. She'll get you there one way or another." Mio said, following behind.

* * *

Within about two hours, Kye and Rei arrived in Yokosuka. They flew at only Mach 4 instead of Mach 6, not wanting to burn too much magic power on the flight. As soon as they arrived, they went straight to the Miyafuji Clinic. Only Ichiro and Sayaka were home at the time.

"Hello, Kye, what brings you back to Fuso so soon?" Ichiro asked.

"As soon as Ayame comes back, we'll be cooking if you'd like to stay to eat." Sayaka offered.

"Uhm... well Rei has a little problem to take care of."

"Is anything wrong with the SFS?" Ichiro asked.

"No, nothing like that. It's a personal problem." Kye said. "As for food, come to think of it we just missed out on Yoshika's special dinner when we left, so that'd be great."

"I'll make sure there's enough for you two as well then." Sayaka said.

"Thanks. Do you know where Kamiko is?"

"She's with Ayame and Nori down at the base. They are probably with General Yamanashi discussing something." Ichiro said.

"All right, thanks!" Kye said as she started pushing Rei out of the door. "Come on, Rei."

"But, I don't want to."

"Too bad, you're going." Kye said, finally getting Rei outside and into the air, leaving Ichiro and Sayaka to wonder what was going on.

* * *

The two flew over to the base and checked in at the command center first. Luckily, they found General Yamanashi right away.

"General Miyafuji." He said with a quick bow. "And Lieutenant Miyafuji." He gave Rei a quick bow as well, with the two returning it. "What brings you back to Fuso so soon?"

"Personal business." Kye said. "I was told I could find Ayame, Kamiko, and Nori here."

"They actually left a little while ago. I believe they were heading back home."

"All right, thanks." Kye said. She kept the next part to herself. 'This is turning into a wild goose chase...'

* * *

Ayame, Kamiko, and Nori had just arrived at the Miyafuji Clinic in time to see Kye and Rei flying toward the base.

"They're back already?" Ayame wondered aloud.

"Surely they haven't wrapped things up in Europe yet." Nori said. "They just had a huge battle that ended with the neuroi withdrawing from Gallia, but no further."

"I don't know." Ayame said as they entered the clinic and removed their shoes.

"Ayame, is that you?" Sayaka called.

"Yeah, I'm coming." She hollered back.

"Kye and Rei are staying for dinner, so we'll need to make a little extra."

"Okay." Ayame said. She turned back to Kamiko and Nori. "Looks like we'll find out soon enough."

* * *

Kye and Rei headed back to the Miyafuji Clinic after talking to General Yamanashi and found the three had already returned. Ayame was already in the kitchen helping Sayaka with the cooking. Ichiro, Kamiko, and Nori were watching television in the next room over.

"We're back." Kye said.

"That didn't take long." Ichiro said.

"Yeah, we came right back after Yamanashi told us they already came home." Kye said, sparking Nori's attention.

"Oh, did you need us for something?" She asked.

"I don't, but Rei..."

"Kamiko, I want to talk to you." Rei said, interrupting Kye.

"Oh, boy." Nori said as she started to get up and leave the room.

"Nori, you can stay." Kamiko said. "Rei, I'm watching TV, move over, please."

"I mean now." Rei demanded.

Kamiko held one hand on her forehead and sighed. "Fine, what is it?"

"I... I want to be..."

"If you're going to be like last time, don't waste your breath." Kamiko said. "Now move over so I can see the TV."

"Kamiko, I'm not asking! I'm telling." Rei said, in a rather loud tone.

"And I'm refusing." Kamiko said. "Talk to me again after you've grown up."

By then, Ayame and Sayaka had entered the room, wondering what the ruckus was about.

"Dammit, Kamiko, I don't know what to do here." Rei said. "I never wanted to skip the sixty years! I wanted to raise and take care of you!"

"Well you did time travel, and you weren't there." Kamiko said. "As far as I'm concerned with it, I'm adopted to Ichiro and Sayaka. I can't have a mother that's still a kid."

Rei said nothing more, and merely walked out of the room.

"Rei..." Kye said. She shot an angry glance at Kamiko, who took note.

"What?"

"You better be glad I wasn't the one that raised you. I'm still not entirely sure that you are raised. You act more like a kid than she does." Kye said as she started to go after Rei.

"Oh? Is the fearless Kye standing up for my kid of a..." Kamiko was interrupted by Kye's hand, slapping her.

"You should be ashamed. You're sixty years old, but you might as well be six." Kye said before leaving the room. She found Rei outside moments later, sitting by herself. "Rei?"

Kamiko secretly followed them, but remained out of sight.

"I knew it wouldn't make a difference." Rei said, trying to hold back from crying. "The little baby I held not long ago... I'll never hold her again. I was so happy when she was born. I looked forward to being a mom. I was going to hold her every night and sing her to sleep. I was going to rock her back and forth while feeding her milk. I was going to do so many things with her, but I never got the chance."

"And I would have been there to help just as my mother helped me with you."

"I miss grandma."

"I do too, Rei."

Kamiko was somewhat moved by what Rei had said and started to walk over to them, but as soon as her presence was known, Rei jumped in the air and flew away. Kamiko raised her arm in Rei's directly, but knew it wouldn't matter.

"I was wondering when you'd come forward." Kye said.

"You knew I was there?"

"The whole time." Kye said. "Rei didn't know. She meant every word she said. Come sit with me for a moment."

Kamiko joined Kye, but remained silent while the blonde woman spoke.

"It is true that Rei is a kid." Kye said. "But did you know I was still a kid myself when she was born?"

"You were there for her."

"Not entirely. I was an officer in the Fuso Navy back then, so I was pretty busy, then the neuroi started showing up. The Fuso Sea incident was the first real battle. After that, I was deployed in Europe. My mother ended up having to raise Rei. I didn't get to see her very much until she turned ten. I found excuses to come home for her birthdays, but that was about all I had with her. I missed her tenth birthday and she tracked me down in Egypt. She ended up joining the 501st while we were there, so I got to spend a lot more time with her."

"Even so, she was ten when you finally got to be around her again. I'm sixty!"

"The point is, I wanted to stay home and be with her, but I couldn't. I had to fight the neuroi so she could have a chance to grow up. If I had stayed home, there's no telling how much worse things would have been." Kye explained. "I would never have become the Supreme Commander of the Joint Fighter Wings. The 501st would not have been in Fuso when the neuroi invaded there a month after the hive in Venezia was destroyed. Yoshika wouldn't have regained her magic power in time to fight off the Fuso invasion, so it's pretty likely that Fuso would have been destroyed. I probably would have died there along with Rei and possibly Yoshika. You never would have been born, the Egypt hive would have overwhelmed the 31st Afrika Squadron, the Orussia hive would have never been destroyed either. And the Mother Hive would have eventually overwhelmed the world without having Yoshika there to destroy the Neuroi Queen."  
She paused for a moment to allow all of that to sink in. "Rei knows this, too. We didn't have the option to time travel, but if we did, we probably would have done it anyway, even if that means leaving everyone behind for sixty years. If we hadn't come to this time, Tokyo and Yokosuka would have been destroyed. If we didn't time travel, we would have all been in our eighties and I would have been in my nineties. We couldn't have changed anything at that age."

"There's a chance that we all would have died in April when the neuroi invaded Tokyo and Yokosuka." Kamiko said.

"Yes. By time traveling, we were able to fight and protect all of you."

"It still doesn't change the fact that I never knew my mother. Ayame was four years old, and Nori was five, I think. They at least have memories of Yoshika and Mio."

"What would you do if you had memories of growing up with Rei there?" Kye sparked Kamiko's attention. She stood up and offered her hand to Kamiko. "Come. I make no promises, but perhaps we can do something about it."

"How?" Kamiko asked.

"You'll see." Kye said.

Kamiko took her hand, and in an instant, the two were transported to the shrine in the mountains. Rei was already there and started to leave.

"Rei, stop." Kye said. "I need you here, too." She didn't argue. Kye drew Jouten from its sheath and pointed it into the sky. "Xera, I know you can hear me. I need an audience with you."

Rei and Kamiko traded glances, both wondering what Kye was up to.

Soon, the Queen of the Gods, Xera, appeared before them. "You have a lot of nerve to call me here."

"You made a problem, and I want you to fix it." Kye said.

"And what would that be?"

"Create an alternate timeline for Rei and Kamiko starting in 1952 and going on for at least twenty years. Have them live life as it would have been if you never pulled Rei along with us to 2012. Then destroy that alternate timeline and transfer the memories of it to Rei and Kamiko here."

"Do you know what you are asking of me?"

"I know exactly what I'm asking. Kamiko has no memories of Rei as her mother. You are the reason for this, so you can at least give them those memories."

"So be it." Xera said. She formed a marble-like dark blue and black clouded orb in her hand. In an instant, the twenty year alternate timeline occurred inside the orb. Xera shattered the orb, allowing energy to flow out of it and into Rei and Kamiko.

The two suddenly both had the memories they wanted. Rei had memories of raising Kamiko, and Kamiko had memories of growing up with her mother.

"It is done." Xera said. Before she could leave, Kamiko interrupted her.

"Miss Xera." Kamiko said. "Is there any way I could ask a favor?"

"You can ask, but it is up to me whether or not the favor is granted."

"Can you return me to my teenage body? I wish to help with the war."

"That's a big favor." Xera said. "And one of self-sacrifice."

"I'd like to return to my teenage self, but retain all of my memories and knowledge gained over my sixty years."

Kye and Rei were both deathly surprised at the request Kamiko was making.

"I cannot revert your age." Xera said. "But I can pull your teenage self out of the past and give you the memories of your current self."

"Will that affect anyone else?"

"They will also retain their memories and experiences as if you had never time traveled."

Kye piped in. "Couldn't you have done that for us?"

"No for two reasons." Xera explained. "This task requires a far greater effort. One that I cannot perform on the spur of the moment as I can with simple time travel. Especially not with thirteen of you at once. Performing a time travel of this caliber even once is difficult enough. The reason this is even possible is that Kamiko has already grown and experienced these memories. Without those memories, it would not have been possible for a time travel of this method in the first place. There are no memories of what would have happened if you and the others had never time traveled. I would have to create the memories as I did for Rei and Kamiko. I only created those specific memories for those two. For a sixty year gap, I would have to create memories for several hundred million if not billion humans, and such a thing would take a phenomenal amount of time, something we don't have."

"I see." Kye said.

"So you can do it for me?" Kamiko asked.

"I can, but I am not convinced that I should."

"I just want to help them. I was powerful in my youth, and I feel I can make a difference."

"What age exactly do you want?" Xera asked.

"I reached my prime at age sixteen." Kamiko said.

"So be it." Xera said. "I can only do this once and it cannot be undone. Are you absolutely sure you want this done?"

"Yes."

Xera touched down to the ground and approached Kamiko. She placed her hand on Kamiko's shoulder causing a white light to engulf the woman. The light was so bright that nobody could see her inside of it. After the light faded, a sixteen year old girl stood in the place of a once sixty year old woman. Xera vanished have filled the requests.

"Kamiko?" Rei said.

Where her hair was shoulder length and was slightly tinted with gray, it was now down to her knees and dark black. Where her eyes were faded, they were now clear and strong. Where her skin carried slight wrinkles, it now was smooth. Where her magic was weakened, it was now strong.

Her outfit included a dark green shirt and black skirt. She wore sandals on her sock covered feet and fingerless gloves on her hands. A katana was strapped to her belt and a staff to her back.

She clenched her fists a few times, testing her younger body before releasing a massive amount of magic, similar to Rei's level. "All right."

"So..." Kye said. "She just pulled your sixteen year old self out of the past. That means you never got to have a daughter."

"I never did have a daughter or any kids for that matter." Kamiko said.

"What about Kaylie and Layla? They are your granddaughters."

"That's not actually true." Kaylie said.

"Then who are their parents?" Kye asked.

"I don't know. They just showed up one day."

"Then how do they have time, space, creation, and destruction magic?" Kye said. "Unless... oh my..."

* * *

**Characters Changed**

**Kamiko Miyafuji** - (Daughter of Rei, Granddaughter of Kye) - Kamiko's sixteen year old self has been pulled from the past and given the memories of her sixty year old self. She intends to help the witches fight in the war. She appears to have a large amount of magic, possibly rivaling Rei. What kind of magical abilities will she have? How will the other witches adapt to having her around?

**Unnamed Daughter of Kamiko Miyafuji** - This character was mentioned in the Author's Notes of the first chapter, but it now revealed that this character never existed, as Kamiko never had any children.

* * *

******Rei was hurt the most by the time travel, having only had about a month and a half with Kamiko as a baby, and the fact that the sixty year old Kamiko didn't want anything to do with Rei didn't help either. Rei has already broke down over this a few times "off screen" which is why Kye commented that it can't keep affecting her like this. Kye, being concerned about Rei, wanted to settle things, but she got more than she bargained for. The only reason Xera even appeared and helped is because she feels guilty about the whole time travel ordeal. Xera is allowed to "meddle with mortal affairs" being the Queen of the gods, though she generally frowns on the act.**

******I'm not yet sure if I want to give Kamiko an SFS, but she might need one... so we'll see. We have a week to find out.**

******The "secret ingredient" Yoshika uses in her cooking for special occasions will remain a mystery, so don't ask what it is! She won't tell me either!**

******I expected to have this chapter out on Tuesday, but I just couldn't stop writing. It also ended up being quite a bit longer than I originally expected, partially due to me taking two extra days to complete it. Hope you guys like it! Let me know what you think!**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	25. Chapter 25: Family Ties

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 25: Family Ties

June 22nd, 2012

* * *

Kye and Rei ended up staying in Fuso for an extra day so Ichiro could build a Strike Flight Suit for Kamiko, which he did rather quickly. Kamiko had only ever flown in a Striker Unit, having retired long before the Air Bands came about, so it was a rather odd experience for her at first. Kamiko's SFS ended up with a light green and white coloring.

Once the shock of Kamiko returning to the Miyafuji Clinic as a sixteen year old girl subsided, Ayame and Nori immediately asked if it were possible for them as well, but Kye quickly shot them down.

"There's too many reasons not to." Kye said. "I highly doubt Xera will do such a thing again, and either way, you two actually did have kids. If you were to get pulled out of the past, there would be consequences."

"Fair enough." Ayame said, eyeing her now teenage cousin. "Kamiko, give them hell for us."

"You bet." Kamiko said.

"So, before we head to Britannia, I need to know something." Kye said. "I can sense that your magic is strong, but what about your skills?"

"Shall we have a mock battle?" Kamiko suggested.

"I'd rather watch... how about you and Rei go at it?" Kye glanced over at a now nervous Rei.

"Mom, I can't..."

"You can and you will." Kye said. "Both of you get in the air."

"A little 'please' would be nice." Kamiko said. "I'm a General myself, after all."

"But I still outrank you, and I'm your grandma, so it's double jeopardy for both of you." Kye said. "Now both of you get outside and in the air before I make you."

Ayame and Nori traded amused glances as Rei and Kamiko reluctantly obeyed.

* * *

After a short mock battle, Kye was rather impressed with Kamiko's abilities. Just before the three got ready to leave, Ayame pulled Kye aside.

"I just wanted to give you my two cents." Ayame said.

"Shoot."

"Kamiko is good. I may have outranked her, but the three of us, Kamiko, Nori, and I that is, were always about even. She may develop a rather arrogant personality if she thinks she has a chance to be the best, so I would advise that you and mom show her that she's not. She will have a better mindset if she thinks she's not the best and will strive to surpass even you."

"I see." Kye said. "That's good to know."

"There's something else. It's about Yusu and the others."

"What about them?"

"How are they progressing?"

"Since they started training with us, they've managed to reach the blue aura, and Yusu has managed to reach the red aura. She's developed quite a nice little technique with it as well."

"I see." Ayame said. "I'm glad they are advancing."

"Did you think they wouldn't?"

"I was worried that they would be more like their parents' generation than mine. All of us... the daughters of the Strike Witches... had powerful magic. I don't know about comparing ourselves to our mothers, but Kamiko, Nori, and I were all able to master the white aura by the time we were each sixteen, but none of the generation below us were able to even learn an aura. By the time the girls were old enough to really start learning their magic properly, Kamiko, Nori, and I were too old to teach them by example or give them the proper training partners they needed."

"Their parents weren't strong enough to push them very far, and you were too old to do it yourself." Kye said. "Who pushed you?"

"A few of your old friends. Ayaka Kuroe, Tomoko Anabuki, Takeko Katou, Yoshiko Nishizawa, even Fumika Kitagou."

"They were all skilled witches and good friends, Ayaka especially."

"Ayaka helped the most. After you and the others disappeared, Ayaka came around a lot. She was like a big sister to us that lived with grandpa Ichiro."

Kye frowned for a moment, wondering how many of her old friends had died. "Is Ayaka still alive?"

"None of them are. The only people I know that are old enough to remember the last war are grandpa Ichiro and grandma Sayaka."

"And they are both over one hundred years old." Kye said. "Hell... I'm supposed to be coming up on ninety five myself."

"But, yes. Everyone trained us, but Ayaka helped the most."

"I imagine she was a good teacher, too." Kye said. "Even after the war, she wouldn't stop bugging me to train with her until she mastered the white aura and every blade spell I threw at her."

"She taught us everything she knew as well."

"I could see some of her training in Kamiko's performance earlier."

"If you can, I want you to get Yusu and the other girls into shape since I'm no longer able."

"Of course." Kye said. "I've been training them hard. Yusu has already learned it, but I imagine the others will break through to the dark red aura soon."

"Without healing magic, they'll have a hard time with that."

"They'll get through it. I'll make sure they reach the fifth stage." Kye said. She turned to Ayame with a serious look about her face. "Yusu is very good. If she works hard enough, she might even be able to reach the True Golden Aura."

"Do you really think so?" Ayame asked.

"It's a possibility." Kye said. "There's an excuse for how Yami and I were able to master sixth stage auras, and Yoshika was basically "the one", you know. I didn't believe anyone other than the three of us would be able to do it, but Rei and Mio proved me wrong. They worked hard. Although they aren't very good at it yet, they are able to use it. If Yusu has the potential for it, I'll pound it into her."

"I'm glad they are in good hands." Ayame said. "I look forward to seeing them return with even more improvement."

"Definitely." Kye said. "I better get going."

"Thanks for looking out for them. Good luck in Europe." Ayame said.

Kye nodded at Ayame before running outside to join Rei and Kamiko. The three took to the air and, led by Kye, headed straight for Britannia.

* * *

Back in Britannia, the other witches were finally getting settled in. The 511th Liberion members that had family in the European group enjoyed the day off to catch up with their siblings.

Lion introduced Trude to his younger sister, by a year, Rosalie Barkhorn, Rose for short. Like Lion, Rose inherited Trude's Super Strength magic, and like several of the other females in the 511th, she was named after her grandmother. She was also the Battle Commander of the 511th.

The three Barkhorns soon ran into Erica and Friend, who had introduced Erica to his younger twin sisters, Elizabeth and Sophia Hartmann, but could not find his older sister, Isabel. After a short conversation, the three Barkhorns broke off and went their own way, leaving the Hartmanns to talk amongst themselves.

"Bell isn't a member of the European Sector, but she's supposed to be here." Fried said as he, Erica, and the younger twin siblings walked through the halls of the base. "I called her yesterday."

"I didn't see her in the Fuso or Liberion wings." Erica said. "Which one is she in?"

"None of them." Fried said. "She's..." He was cut off.

"I'm a different case." Came a female voice from behind.

"Bell!" Sophia greeted as she and Elizabeth tackled the new girl in a hug, the three of them falling to the floor in a thump.

"Oomph." The girl tried to wrestled the twins off. "Sophie, Lizzy, get... off... can't... breath."

"Sorry, sis!" Elizabeth said as she helped the girl up.

After brushing herself off, she offered her hand to Erica. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Major General Isabel Hartmann, Head Commander of the 511th Joint Fighter Wing."

"Bell?" Erica said, puzzled, as she shook Bell's hand. An image of her daughter, the first Isabel Hartmann, flashed through her mind briefly. "Yes." Bell confirmed.

"I was named after my grandmother, so technically I'm Isabel Hartmann II."

"So all four of you are mine?" Erica asked.

"If you mean great grandchildren, then yes."

"So what's a Head Commander? Is it different from the Commander or Battle Commander?"

"I oversee all three wings." Bell explained. "The three Commanders, Colonel Miyafuji, Colonel Barkhorn, and Colonel Virtanen report to me. As such, I rarely can breathe from drowning in paperwork, much less participate in battle."

"I know how that feels." Minna said as she walked up to the group of Hartmanns. She noticed the rank insignia on Bell's uniform and started to introduce herself. "I'm..."

"No need for introductions, ma'am." Bell said. "The Commander's name as well as the rest of the 501st is common knowledge around here."

"Hi, Minna." Erica greeted.

"I just wanted to let you know that everyone is meeting in the auditorium in two hours. All members of 501st and 511th."

"What for?"

"Kye is coming back with a surprise, but she wouldn't say what. She wants to meet all of the 511th European members as well."

"I'll make sure they know to show up." Bell said.

"Already taken care of. I've spoken to Colonel Virtanen. He's relaying the message as well."

"It's news to us." Sophia said.

"Are you three triplets?" Minna asked. "No, you're a bit taller than they are."

"I'm six years older than these two dimwits, but they are twins." Bell said, half teasing the younger twin Hartmanns and earning a giggle from Erica.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty two." Bell said. "I'm lucky to have kept my younger appearance. Sometimes if a person doesn't know which one of us is which, we can fool them, but these two like to dress identically and do it on a daily basis."

'They're Erica's all right.' Minna kept that thought to herself. "I see. Well, I have errands to run. I'll see the lot of you at the meeting later."

"Bye, Minna!" Erica said. She turned to Bell with a serious face, rare for Erica. "So, if anyone will know, it's you."

"What is it?" Bell asked.

"My sister and daughter, are they still alive?"

"Grandma Bell is alive and well. Aunt Ursula is a different story. She's alive, but very sick."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She had an accident with tinkering on one of her projects a few months ago." Bell said. "She didn't get injured, but the gas released got into her system and is slowly killing her. I tried to have Colonel Miyafuji heal her, but she couldn't."

"Yoshika can." Erica had a lot of hope in her eyes.

"Of course! Miss Miyafuji was the best healer in the world, and I imagine she still is."

"She still is." Erica said as she grabbed Bell's hand and started running with her in tow. "Come on, we have to find her."

* * *

"So do you two do any mechanic work?" Shirley asked. She was in the hangar with Ally and Jaden working on her old reciprocating striker. Somehow, she was able to convince Minna to pull enough strings to get both her reciprocating striker and third generation striker delivered from Fuso, which had just arrived earlier that morning.

"I dabble, but with my position as the 511th Liberion Battle Commander, I don't get much free time to work on any projects, so I mostly just help Jaden on his." Ally answered.

"I make up for her." Jaden said. "I've been working on an old 1970 Dodge Challenger using only hand tools. It's a labor of love, and I love it."

Shirley looked up from her striker at the young man with stars in her eyes. "I have to see it."

Just then, she felt a pair of grabby hands on her breasts. "Hi, Lucchini." She didn't even turn around to find out who was the culprit.

Soon, Ally also was the target of a pair of grabby hands, albeit different hands. "Hi, Lucy." She said, giving a nearly identical response to her grabber as Shirley.

"They could be twins..." Leo said as he joined the group.

"I hope they don't rub off on you." Jaden remarked.

"You afraid I'll do that to you?" Leo shot back with a raised eyebrow.

Jaden only returned an annoyed frown to Leo.

"Shirley, Shirley, the base is the same!" Lucchini said excitedly. "Look up in the rafters. My mat is still there!"

Shirley glanced up in Lucchini's old napping spot high in the rafters and sure enough, there it was. "Well how about that."

"I never thought about sleeping up there." Lucy said.

"Well, my young prot g , I can teach you the ways of the Lucchini." Lucchini said confidently, waving her hand as if revealing something mystical. The younger Luciana Lucchini was entranced by the older Francesca Lucchini.

Shirley and Ally traded amused glances at each other and their black haired partners.

"Lucy, have you heard anything about Lily?" Leo asked.

"Who's Lily?" Lucchini asked in return.

"Lily is... unique." Ally said.

"She's different from us." Lucy said.

"Well who is she?" Lucchini asked again.

"She's mine and Lucy's sister, Liliana Lucchini." Leo said.

"None of us really know her aside Leo and Lucy." Ally said.

"We don't really know that well either." Leo said. "We were kids when she became a witch. She's twenty five years old and probably the strongest witch in the world of our time, but she quit the 511th about a year ago, shortly after Lucy and I joined, and passed on the role of Head Commander to Bell."

"Was she on the battlefield the other day?" Shirley asked.

"No." Leo said.

"We haven't actually seen Lily since we joined the 511th." Lucy added.

"What does she look like?" Lucchini asked.

"Like you with ghost white hair and white eyes." Leo said. "Here's the kicker. As powerful as Lily is, she has never destroyed a neuroi. There isn't even data on her abilities in the World Witch Database, but I can tell you that she could give even your sword wielding aura witches a run for their money."

"She's that strong?" Shirley asked.

"Yeah." Leo said. "If you met her, you would never know. She's very quiet and keeps to herself. Outside of work, she never talks to anyone and often disappears. Since she quit the 511th, she disappeared and we haven't heard from her since."

"Now I just want to meet her more." Lucchini said.

* * *

"Yoshika!" Erica hollered as she and the others finally found the brown haired Fuso girl. "Hey, I need a favor!"

"Oh, hi Erica. What's up?" Yoshika turned around to meet the blonde girl. She was walking around with Lynne, Perrine, Mei, Yoko, Louise, and a blonde haired man.

"Who's he?" Erica asked, pointing at the new man.

"My brother." Louise said. "Charles Clostermann."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, ma'am." Charles said.

"No "ma'am" please." Erica said before turning her attention back to Yoshika. "So, Yoshika. My sister is still alive!"

"Ursula?"

"Yeah! But she's in bad shape. Sick from something. Can you heal her?"

"Uh, yeah sure." Yoshika said. "Where is she?"

"Uhh..." Erica turned to Bell, hoping for answers.

"She's in a hospital in London." Bell said.

"Let's go." Yoshika said.

"Don't forget the meeting later!" Perrine called to her.

"I won't, but this comes first! Cover for me if I'm late." Yoshika said as she and the group of Hartmanns ran off toward the nearest exit, leaving Perrine, Lynne, Mei, Yoko, Louise, and Charles to wonder around on their own.

Yoshika and Erica were wearing their SFS units while the other four were wearing Air Bands, so they were in the air as soon as they were outside, with Bell leading the way.

* * *

"Vitaliy and Sasha are on a mission at the moment." Valterri said. Tori and Aina had just introduced Sanya and Eila to Valterri. He's the Commander of the 511th European sector and older brother of Aina. "They should be returning in about thirty minutes if you want to wait in the hangar. I'm going there shortly to get Vitaliy's report as soon as they return.

Valterri was a tall man of twenty years. He wasn't as big as Lion, but was still well built. Eila was very surprised and happy to have such a manly great grandson. He towered over the girls at about one hundred eighty centimeters.

"How did you get so big?" Eila said.

"You must not have met Lion yet. He's a giant."

"We've met him, but still. You're pretty big yourself."

He ducked to the side out of nowhere and raised his hand to catch a ball thrown at him from behind. "Nice try, Sophie. Or was it Lizzy this time?" He turned around and found that the culprit was neither of them, but was Lion. Rosalie and Trude were with him.

"Never could catch you off guard." Lion said.

'He's just like Eila.' Trude commented to herself as she returned a wave to Eila.

"Since you're all hear, we're supposed to have a meeting in the..."

"We know." Lion said, cutting Valterri off.

"Minna told us." Trude said.

"All right. Well, we're heading down to the hangar to meet Vitaliy's group when they get in. We'll see you at the meeting later." Valterri turned and led his group toward the hangar.

"Later." Lion said just before his group continued their tour.

* * *

"This is Major Vitaliy Kistanov. Recon mission complete. All units return to base."

Systematically, the four witches and wizards flying on his tail followed him back toward the base.

"Wait." Aleksandr, or Sasha as he preferred, called. "I'm picking up a neuroi." Like Tori, Sasha inherited the Magic Antenna ability from Sanya.

"I am, too, now." Vitaliy said. Vitaliy, being the oldest of the three siblings, also inherited his abilities from Sanya. "From our five o'clock."

"Does it know we're here?" Diana asked.

"Yeah, it's heading right for us." Sasha confirmed.

"Climb high." Vitaliy ordered. "Let's fight this one above the clouds."

"Roger."

The neuroi closed in on the group of five just after they cleared the clouds. While normally, it would be daylight, the storm darkened the entire area quite a bit, so fighting above the clouds would be advantageous to the team.

"There it is!" Caitlyn said.

"It's humanoid." James reported. "Likely a class seven or eight."

"Class eight for sure." Sasha said. "I just measured it's energy levels."

"We have our hands full." Vitaliy said. "None of us have any real strong offensive magic, so don't let it get any of you in single combat."

"Yes, sir."

Before they could engage the neuroi, it shattered into white fragments.

"What the hell?!"

The witch that destroyed the neuroi appeared from above. She had ghost white hair and very pale skin. The Vitaliy immediately recognized her.

"Liliana?"

She didn't respond and flew off at a speed none of them could follow.

"Was that really her?" Sasha asked.

"Without a doubt." Vitaliy confirmed. "We have something new to report when we return. RTB, on the double."

* * *

"I hope nothing too interesting happened while we were gone." Kye said to Mio and Minna as she, Rei, and Kamiko followed them into Minna's old office.  
Aside the lack of paperwork on the desk, the room was relatively untouched over the years.

"Well, I wouldn't say anything interesting happened." Minna said. "I'm more interested in who your green suited tag along is that is wearing a Strike Suit."

"Hello!" Kamiko greeted in a sing song tone.

"It's nice to meet you, miss." Minna said. "I'm..."

"Brigadier General Minna Dietlinde Wilcke, Commander of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, also known as the Strike Witches." Kamiko finished for her. "We've met, briefly."

"Oh?"

Kye closed the door behind her and spoke in a low tone to Mio and Minna. "You'll both need to keep an open mind for this one."

"Why's that?" Mio asked.

"I'm still not entirely sure how to introduce her to the others..."

Sensing that she wouldn't get a straight answer from Kye, Mio turned to Kamiko herself. "What's your name?"

"Uh..."

"Go ahead and tell them." Kye said.

"Major General Kamiko Miyafuji." The girl said.

"Wha... what?" Mio stuttered, a rare sight. "Kamiko is sixty years old."

"And now I'm sixteen." She said.

"How?" Mio directed her question at Kye.

"Xera." Kye said. "I had her create memories of an alternate existence where Rei didn't time travel so she and Kamiko could have the experience of being mother and daughter, then implant those memories into them. Then Kamiko asked the Goddess Queen to return her to her sixteen year old self, which in a short version of the story, she did, but the memories of her former life are still intact for everyone she's ever met."

"Do you think it's a good idea to introduce her to the others?" Mio asked.

"I don't know. I was considering having her use a false identity. Perhaps a transfer from another unit... but I don't know. It's complicated."

"How so?"

"She can use the white aura." Kye said. "The only witches in the world with that ability are us and a few of the Dark Witches."

"I see." Mio pondered in thought for a moment before an idea popped into her head. "What about a visitor from the Light Realm, like Yami?"

"That could explain her power."

"What about a long lost member of the Miyafuji family that trained with Miss Yami for a few years to reach her current state of power?" Kamiko suggested.

"That could work, but what about any military background?" Kye pointed out. "If we want to keep your true identity a secret, you'll have to drop in rank. A sixteen year old Major General is a bit rare. I wasn't promoted to Brigadier General until I was eighteen, and that was a special case as it was."

"I didn't think about that either." Kamiko said. "But to have any rank at all, I'll need a military background for my false identity. Perhaps I could just do without."

"That's fine. With your power, I'm sure nobody will be trying to pull rank on you anyway, and if they do, you know a certain Supreme Commander of the Joint Fighter Wings."

"Indeed. Will Yami agree to this story?"

"I'm sure she won't mind." Kye said. "She'll probably enjoy the fun out of it. What do you think? Mio? Minna?"

"I think we could use the extra person." Minna said.

"Especially one with experience at or near our level." Mio added.

"Good. It's settled then." Kye said. "Sayaka, Ichiro, Ayame, and Nori back home know about this, and aside us, Yami is soon to know... Yoshika will probably figure it out, but aside from us and them, nobody else is to know. Not even the other Strike Witches."

"I agree." Minna said. She glanced at the clock on the wall. "The meeting will be starting soon, we should go talk to Yami beforehand." "The connection with Yami will also explain how she has an SFS, too." Kye said. "Since Yami helped Ichiro design them. I'm gonna go hunt Yami down before the meeting starts to let her know."

"See you in a bit." The others said as Kye left the room.

* * *

"Yoshika, thank you so much!" Erica said excitedly.

A newly healed Ursula was now sitting up in her bed. "Erica. I'm glad you came to see me. And thank you, Miss Miyafuji. Without your help, I would probably have had only a few more weeks. It really is incredible how invigorating your magic is once the effect takes hold."

"Just Yoshika, please. We've met before." Yoshika said.

"Yes, I remember." Ursula said, calling back her memory of the Jet Striker incident in Romagna. "It was so long ago. How is everyone? I haven't seen any of you since before you disappeared sixty years ago."

"Everyone is doing great." Erica said. "I think this is going to take some getting used to, though."

"What's that?"

"Knowing what I'm gonna look like when I get old." Erica joked.

"You don't like the sneak peak?"

"I didn't say that!"

Ursula laughed to herself for a moment. "Save the world again, sister. Make it safe for the kids."

"You know, they are older than we were when we fought the neuroi back then."

"Some of them are, some aren't." Ursula said. "But I know there's some real nasty neuroi out there. Ones more powerful than the Neuroi Queen was, so you watch out, too!"

"I will, sister." Erica said. "I have to go back now, but I'll come see you again soon."

"I should be okay to travel soon. Yoshika's healing worked wonders. I feel twenty years younger." Ursula managed to form a small gust of air in her palm, having the same magic as her sister, albeit vastly weakened by her old age. "If I can do that much, I can at least travel."

"Well if you come to the base, I'll make sure you have a warm welcome, Aunty." Bell said.

"By the way, Erica. Have you seen your daughter yet?"

"Not yet, but I want to."

"She's here in London." Ursula said. "She visited me just a few hours ago."

"She is?!" Erica's excitement instantly filled the room.

"She said that she was going to the base, actually. I thought you would have already seen her."

"I saw a truck arriving at the base just as we left." Fried pointed out. "That might have been her, and she probably saw us leaving, too."

"We gotta go!" Erica opened the window and jumped faster than anyone could turn their heads to follow.

"Wow..." Yoshika muttered.

"You all better go, too." Ursula said. "I'll come to the base as soon as I'm able."

"We'll see you later, then." Bell said.

* * *

The time for the meeting finally arrived with Yoshika, Erica, and the Hartmann siblings filing in just as the meeting started.

"Sorry we're late!" Yoshika hollered, directing her apology to Kye, who was on the stage.

"No worries, I know about Ursula. How did it go?"

"She healed her good as new!" Erica said. "Ursula said that she's coming to the base after she gets out of the hospital."

"Good news." Kye said.

"Oh, is Bell..." Erica stopped short, her soon to be asked question answered when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Mom."

Erica turned around and returned the hug. "I missed you."

"We have to catch up. There's so many things I want to tell you." Isabel said. "But for now, the meeting."

"Right."

"All right, then." Kye said. "Would the members of the 511th European Sector stand please? I want to connect names to faces."

Valterri, Rosalie, Elizabeth, Sophia, and Charles all stood up.

"We're short a few." Bell said. "I sent the others on a recon mission earlier. They should have been back by now."

Like clockwork, the door opened and in came five more witches and wizards.

"And there they are." Bell said. "Did the mission go well?"

"Yes, ma'am, but there was one hiccup toward the end." Vitaliy reported.

"It can wait a moment." Kye interrupted. "I want to learn your names first. "I've met a couple of you, but most of you I don't know yet. So I'll go through these names in order. Lieutenant Colonel Rosalie Barkhorn?"

"That's me, ma'am." Rose said.

"I assume you are Lion's sister?"

"That's right. I am also the 511th European Battle Commander."

"All right." Kye continued. "Three Bishops, I bet they are all siblings. Can you introduce yourselves for me?"

Three of the group that just walked in spoke up.

"First Lieutenant Diana Bishop II."

"Captain Caitlyn Bishop. Cate for short. I'm Diana's older sister."

"First Lieutenant James Bishop. I'm their cousin."

"I assume all three of you are Lynette Bishop's great grandchildren?"

"Yes." The three said in unison.

"All right. Next on the list, Charles Clostermann. I assume you are related to Louise?"

"She is my older sister, ma'am." Charles confirmed.

"Now we have two Hartmanns, same age, both First Lieutenants. Elizabeth and Sophia?"

"We are twins!" The two mirrored each other.

"I'll learn to tell you apart later." Kye continued down the list. "Captain Aleksandr Gavriil Kistanov and Major Vitaliy Gedeon Kistanov? I assume you are brothers to Tori?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And there should be one more name on your list, General Miyafuji." Valterri said, standing up on his own. "I am Colonel Valterri Iilvari Virtanen, Commander of the 511th European Sector."

"Good. You are Aina's brother? Older I assume."

"Correct on both parts."

"Good." Kye continued. "And there's two more names on here that don't belong to any specific sector. Major General Isabel Hartmann II?"

"That's me." Bell said. "I am the Head Commander of all three 511th Sectors. The individual Commanders, Colonels Miyafuji, Barkhorn, and Virtanen, report to me."

"Excellent." Kye said.

"I'm curious, though. There shouldn't be another name on your list. That's everyone."

"There's one more, but I don't see anyone it could be. I know everyone else that's here."

"Who is it?"

"Lieutenant General Liliana Lucchini. I assume she is Francesca Lucchini's great granddaughter?"

"She left the wing a year ago." Bell said. "She was the Head Commander before me."

"About that, ma'am." Vitaliy said. "The hiccup I mentioned on our mission. Just as we were turning around to return to base, a neuroi engaged us, a single Class Eight Humanoid type."

"Did that compromise the mission?"

"No, but that's not the important part." Vitaliy continued. "We lead the neuroi above the clouds, and as soon as it was in range of us, before we could even formulate a battle strategy, it shattered into fragments. I couldn't even see who did it. You and I both know of only one witch who can pull that off, aside the 501st."

"You can't be serious!" Bell said.

"She disappeared over a year ago!" Lion argued.

"There's no way." Yusu added.

"Her name, Vitaliy. Confirm it first." Valterri said.

"No doubt about it." Vitaliy went on. "Ghost white hair, pale skin, Romagnan uniform..."

Lucchini's face grew with excitement as Vitaliy continued describing the person he saw.

"It was none other than Liliana Lucchini."

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Isabel Hartmann II "Bell"**  
**Age**: 22  
**Rank**: Major General, Head Commander of the 511th Joint Fighter Wing  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Erica Hartmann, Granddaughter to Isabel Hartmann I, Older Sister to Friedrich, Elizabeth, and Sophia Hartmann.

**Valterri Iilvari Virtanen**  
**Age**: 20  
**Rank**: Colonel, Commander of the 511th European Sector  
**Relation**: Great Grandson to Eila Illmatar Juutilainen, Grandson to Aina Inari Juutilianan I, Older Brother to Ain Inari Juutilianen II

**Rosalie Barkhorn "Rose"**  
**Age**: 19  
**Rank**: Lieutenant Colonel, Battle Commander of the 511th European Sector  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Gertude Barkhorn, Granddaughter to Seiglinde Barkhorn, Younger sister to Lionhardt Barkhorn.

**Charles Clostermann**  
**Age**: 19  
**Rank**: Major  
**Relation**: Great Grandson to Perrine H. Clostermann, Grandson to Louise Clostermann I, Younger brother to Louise Clostermann III, Cousin to Mei and Kiyoko Akiyama.

**Vitaliy Gedeon Kistanov**  
**Age**: 19  
**Rank**: Major  
**Relation**: Great Grandson to Sanya V. Litvyak, Grandson to Anna V. Litvyak, Older Brother to Aleksandr Gavriil Kistanov and Aleksandra Viktoriya Kistanov.

**Aleksandr Gavriil Kistanov "Sasha"**  
**Age**: 17  
**Rank**: Captain  
**Relation**: Great Grandson to Sanya V. Litvyak, Grandson to Anna V. Litvyak, Younger Brother to Vitaliy Gedeon Kistanov and Older Brother to Aleksandra Viktoriya Kistanov.

**Caitlyn Bishop "Cate"**  
**Age**: 17  
**Rank**: Captain  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Lynette Bishop, Granddaughter to Diana Bishop I, Older sister to Diana Bishop II, Cousin to James Bishop

**Diana Bishop II**  
**Age**: 16  
**Rank**: First Lieutenant  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Lynette Bishop, Granddaughter to Diana Bishop I, Younger sister to Caitlyn Bishop, Cousin to James Bishop

**James Bishop**  
**Age**: 16  
**Rank**: First Lieutenant  
**Relation**: Great Grandson to Lynette Bishop, Grandson to Diana Bishop I, Cousin to Caitlyn Bishop and Diana Bishop II.

**Elizabeth Hartmann "Lizzy"**  
**Age**: 16  
**Rank**: First Lieutenant  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Erica Hartmann, Granddaughter to Isabel Hartmann I, Younger sister to Isabel Hartmann II and Friedrich Hartmann. Identical Twin sister to Sophia Hartmann.

**Sophia Hartmann "Sophie"**  
**Age**: 16  
**Rank**: First Lieutenant  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Erica Hartmann, Granddaughter to Isabel Hartmann I, Younger sister to Isabel Hartmann II and Friedrich Hartmann. Identical Twin sister to Elizabeth Hartmann.

**Liliana Lucchini "Lily"**  
**Age**: 25  
**Rank**: Lieutenant General, Former Head Commander of the 511th  
**Relation**: Great Granddaughter to Francesca Lucchini, Granddaughter to Luciana Lucchini I, Older sister to Luciana Lucchini II and Leonardo Lucchini.

* * *

**Other Members of the 511th Joint Fighter Wing**

**511th Fuso Sector**

Colonel Yoshika Miyafuji "Yusu" (511th Fuso Commander)  
Captain Kaylie Miyafuji  
Captain Layla Miyafuji  
Captain Mei Akiyama  
Captain Kiyoko Akiyama "Yoko"  
Lieutenant Colonel Louise Clostermann III

**511th Liberion Sector**

Colonel Lionhardt Barkhorn "Lion" (511th Liberion Commander)  
Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus "Ally" (511th Battle Commander)  
Lieutenant Colonel Johan Wilcke  
Captain Jaden Ventus  
Captain Friedrich Hartmann "Fried"  
First Lieutenant Luciana Lucchini II "Lucy"  
First Lieutenant Leonardo Lucchini "Leo"  
First Lieutenant Alina Wilcke II  
First Lieutenant Aleksandra Viktoriya Kistanov "Tori"  
First Lieutenant Aina Inari Virtanen

**Just an added note**: The ages and ranks for Johan Wilcke, Jaden Ventus, and Friedrich Hartmann displayed in an earlier chapter were incorrect. I goofed on that part and that goof may have carried over to some of the story content as well. I will correct this on a later date, but for now, these updated mini profiles will do for them.

**Johan Wilcke**  
**Age**: 19  
**Rank**: Lieutenant Colonel

**Jaden Ventus**  
**Age**: 18  
**Rank**: Captain

**Friedrich Hartmann "Fried"**  
**Age**: 18  
**Rank**: Captain

* * *

**Whew! That was an unusually long chapter! Hope you all liked it!**

**One important note to make: Liliana "Lily" Lucchini is a very important character, but is meant to be mysterious. She is also the most powerful witch of the younger generation, but her true abilities will be kept secret for now. Just know that while she is a Lucchini, this doesn't necessarily mean she specializes in Sunlight Magic like the rest of the Lucchinis. She will come into play later.**

**Let me know what you think!**

* * *

**Strike Witches: Mini Adventures  
**

**I haven't gotten any requests in a while. I'm always open to them! If you have one, send it in! I will do any of the 501st witches (including Kye and Rei if so desired, those must be set before the end of Worldwide Liberation) and will openly discuss requests for any witch outside of the 501st. I will not guarantee that I will fulfill requests for witches outside of the 501st, but don't hesitate to ask! I an open to the idea so long as background information can be provided for the witch requested.**

**For more information on what type of story SW: Mini Adventures, check out the story itself! It can be found at the bottom of my profile or just add this on the end of the FanFiction web address: s/8992317/6/Strike-Witches-Mini-Adventures  
**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	26. Chapter 26: Prisoners or Guests?

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 26: Prisoners or Guests?

June 25th, 2012

* * *

The news of the Liliana sighting sparked interest in both Kye and Lucchini. One wondered about the nature of her abilities, and the other just wanted to meet her.

Kye coordinated with Minna, Bell, Yusu, Lion, and Valterri to set up patrols, hoping they would find Liliana, but the chances of that were low.

Shortly before one of the scheduled patrols, a battle challenge was issued to the Strike Witches from the Dark Witches.

"We had better comply." Kye said. She was meeting with Mio and Minna. "They are threatening to attack with their full force if we don't send a unit to battle them."

"I still don't see what they want." Minna said.

"I don't either." Kye sighed. "Mio, can you lead this one?"

"Sure." Mio said. "Who should I take."

"Up to you." Kye said. "Minna, whoever else is left, send them on patrols. You go, too."

"That will leave the base unprotected." Minna said.

"I'll be staying behind. There's a bit of paperwork to do, not to mention I'm covering for Bell so she can see missions again."

"All right, then."

* * *

Half an hour after everyone left, Kye had finished one batch of paperwork. She walked over to the window and gazed out at the sea below. She sensed a presence in the room, and immediately knew who was there.

"I was wondering when you would come."

"Yes, Princess." The voice's owner said.

Kye turned around and saw in front of her a seemingly young woman with long ghost white hair and a Romagnan officer uniform.

"Liliana Lucchini, I presume?"

* * *

The Dark Witch's challenge was to take place near the western shore of Gallia. Mio led a group of witches there. The challenge was a three on three battle, so she took Rei and Kamiko with her.

"I was under the impression that Kye, Yami, and Yoshika would be here." The dark haired leader of the three Dark Witches said once Mio and the others approached them.

"Are you not satisfied with the three of us?" Mio said. "If you want to fight our strongest, you'll have to go through us first."

"Fine by me. First, though, I would like to know the identity of your third witch. I know of your, Mio Sakamoto, and of Rei Miyafuji, but the one clad in green is a mystery to us."

Kamiko took the chance to introduce herself. "I am Kamiko Miyafuji. I share a common ancestor with Kye three generations before her."

"I hope for your sake that you carry the same potential as your two friends there at least." The leader said. "I am Nami Nishizawa, second in command of the Dark Witch Third Corps. You can refer to me as Dark Witch Nami."

"I am Aiko Katou, member of the Third Corps. Refer to me as Dark Witch Aiko."

"I am Eiko Katou, member of the Third Corps. Refer to me as Dark Witch Eiko. I am Aiko's sister, younger by a year."

"Prepare yourselves, Strike Witches." Nami said. "We don't intend to hold back."

Mio stood surprised as Nami and the other two activated the white aura, but didn't have time to be impressed. She was forced to activate her own white aura in retaliation as the three Dark Witches charged quickly.

* * *

"Minna, we're all clear in this sector." Trude reported over the intercom. She and Erica were flying together in a patrol. Most of the patrols were in groups of two and three. The night witches were the only ones not on a patrol, since they were asleep back at the base.

"All clear in my sector, too." Shirley reported.

"Clear in our sector, too." Perrine said.

"501st Commander to 511th Commander, we are all clear." Minna said.

"This is 511th Head Commander, I'm still waiting on reports from my groups." Bell said "Let me know as soon as you get them, please."

"This is 511th Fuso Commander, both of my teams are reporting an all clear." Yusu said.

"This is 511th Liberion Commander, all of my teams are reporting an all clear as well." Lion said.

"All clear from the 511th European groups as well." Valterri added.

"Did you get that Commander Minna?" Bell asked.

"Yes." Minna said. "All units return to base."

* * *

Mio was in the middle of her battle with Nami. Aiko and Eiko were fighting with Rei and Kamiko a short distance away, each of them spread out in three one on one battles.

"You are the splitting image of Yoshiko, and you share her last name. I assume you are her descendant." Mio said as she parried Nami's attack.

"Correct. I know you were her comrade once, but don't think for a second that it matters in this battle."

"Why are you a Dark Witch?" Mio asked, wanting to go straight to the answers.

"What does it matter?" Nami said. "You'll be dead soon. Explaining my actions would pointless."

Mio sighed and continued fighting. Nami was strong and skilled, but she did not have the years of experience that made Mio a veteran.

Similarly, Aiko and Eiko were losing against Rei and Kamiko. While strong, the Dark Witches were young. Rei may have been only sixteen years old, but she had been holding a sword since her arms was strong enough to lift one, and Kamiko had sixty years of experience packed into a sixteen year old body.

* * *

"Yes, Princess. I am Liliana Lucchini." The ghost white haired girl said.

"Your records put you at twenty five years old, but you have the appearance of no more than eighteen." Kye said. "This would explain your abnormally strong magic power. You are a rebirth from the Light Kingdom."

"That is correct."

"Then you are the same Liliana I knew as a child?"

"We played together every day in the Royal Gardens."

"Lily." Kye said quietly. "Can you tell me what you know of Kaylie and Layla?"

"Are you asking of your daughters from the Light Kingdom or the two girls in the Fuso 511th?"

"I'm asking if they are one in the same."

"Why not ask them yourself?"

"If they are not..."

"You haven't changed a bit, Princess." Lily said. She walked over and stood next to Kye as the two gazed out over the sea from the window. "I can only tell you that it is worth asking."

"Sworn to secrecy are you?" Kye said rhetorically. "What abilities do you possess here in the mortal world?"

'Pretty much the same as before.' Lily spoke to Kye telepathically.

'Telepathy. What about space magic?'

'Yes. While I can't perform the more advanced spells, I can use teleportation, create pocket dimensions, and use Gravity Magic.'

Kye turned toward Lily, who at the same time turned to her. 'I'm glad you are all right. Why did you perform a Rebirth, though?'

'To help you. I know you have recovered all of your memories, including those behind the final lock. Do you really plan to bring peace to this world? Zen Serenity is a high level spell, even among the Light Kingdom.'

'Yes. I will need multiple witches to cast it.'

'I will assist if you wish.'

'I'm not sure how many it will take, but I will pull it off. Yoshika will make sure of that.'

'Yoshika Miyafuji. She really is something else. Tell me. When you gave her the push she needed in 1945, when she unlocked the True Golden Aura, what would you have done if your plain failed?'

'What do you mean?'

'The Pillar of Light. That was a big gambit. Had your plan failed, your mortal body would have been destroyed. Your immortal body would have replaced it and the Pillar of Light would have immediately increased to the level of your full power as Princess Kye Akari.'

'To be fair, my memories were still locked at the time. I fully believed that I would have simply died.'

'I see.' Lily paused for a moment and closed her eyes. Within seconds, she opened them and spoke a loud. "The patrols you sent are returning. Mio Sakamoto and the others are still battling the three Dark Witches as well, and are winning. It is likely they will capture and bring them here."

"That's good news." Kye said. "What about you?"

"I will make myself scare for now." Lily said. "Only you and Yami need know of my presence. If you wish to talk to me again, just call for me telepathically. I will hear you."

"Okay." Kye said. "Stay safe, Lily."

"You, too, Princess." Lily bowed to Kye briefly before vanishing.

Kye turned back to the window and gazed out over the sea with a smile on her face. Lily was right. She saw the others in the distance approaching the base.  
After watching Minna and the others arrive in the hangar, Kye didn't wait for their reports. She already knew their results. Instead, she left a note on the desk, opened the window, and took to the air.

'I know Mio, Rei, and Kamiko can handle this, but my curious side is getting to me. I want to see the battle.' Kye performed a quick scan with her SFS to see where the battle was and immediately took off in that direction.

* * *

Mio started to gain the upper hand in her battle against Nami. What made the battle difficult was their attitudes toward each other. Mio, Rei, and Kamiko had no desire to kill their opponents, but their opponents did not share the same sentiment.

Nami showed proficiency with several blade spells, including the Reppuzan, full-powered Reppuzan, Distant Cut, and Sonic Slash, but Mio was able to counter them with her own.

Then suddenly, she stopped fighting, taking Mio by surprise, although she was more than okay with a break.

"Aiko, Eiko, incoming." Nami said. "Another SFS is approaching at a speed greater than Mach 5."

"Do you think it's her?" Aiko asked.

"Definitely." Eiko said.

Everyone turned toward the north and saw Kye approaching.

"It's her! Aiko, Eiko!" Nami said "You can relax, I'm not going to attack." Kye said. "I'm here to watch."

"You are our target!" Nami said.

"And you have opponents, still." Kye pointed behind the three Dark Witches. "How do you expect to come after me with them there?"

"So be it."

"It would be pointless." Kye said. "You should give up now. There's no way you three can win against them, much less me."

"You think yourself so high and mighty."

"I don't think of myself any higher than I actually am. It is you who is overestimating yourself. Don't you see yet? You are being used."

"How can you..."

"Because I know your leader, Prince Zen Akari. My brother is manipulative." Kye spoke in a rather serious tone. "If you really think you are enough to take me down, then all three of you can come at me anytime you want. Mio, Rei, and Kamiko will even stand down and allow it."

A smirk appeared on Nami's face. "Big mistake." She charged toward Kye using the full power of her aura and attacked Kye with her sword, but Kye didn't even draw her own from her sheath. Instead, in an instant, she brought her right index finger up and blocked Nami's blade with it, without suffering as much as a single scratch.

"You don't know how to use your power." Kye said. She punched Nami in the stomach with a left jab and disarmed the girl. "Understand now? There's more to Energy Projection that just the auras."

Aiko and Eiko tried to take Kye by surprise. One attempting to attack from behind, aiming at her neck, and the other attacking from the side. Neither of their blades left as much as a scratch on Kye's skin.

"You just don't get it." Kye said. "You are inexperienced. You don't know how to correctly use the power you wield. Throw away your ties with the Dark Witches and I will take you back with us."

"Never." Nami said quietly.

"Have it your way then." Kye activated the True Golden Aura and slowly mixed in the power of the Light and Dark auras, pushing over to the seventh stage. The powerful silvery aura soon engulfed her body, leaving the three Dark Witches stunned with surprise.

Kye's overwhelming power pressed down on them. Even with their fifth stage auras, they found it hard to move in Kye's presence.

In a flash, Kye knocked all three girls unconscious and motioned for Mio, Rei, and Kamiko to carry them. "They are prisoners. Treat them as such when they regain consciousness."

Kye carefully returned the unconscious witches' weapons to their sheathes and flew off toward the base with Mio and company soon following behind.

* * *

After arriving back at the base, Kye had the others carry the three captured Dark Witches up to the commander's office. She had everyone but Mio and Minna leave the room afterward.

Being careful with each one, Kye, Mio, and Minna managed to take the Striker Flight Suits off the three Dark Witches, leaving them only in their undergarments lying unconscious on the floor. Kye then fetched three metallic black wristbands from a box in the corner and placed one on each of the three.

"What are those?" Mio asked.

"Magic Inhibitors." Kye said. "They will seal off their magic. These three are our prisoners now and will not be permitted to leave the base."

"We don't exactly have prison cells here." Minna pointed out.

"That's not a problem." Kye said. "We will not treat them unfairly. They will be allowed to roam freely while here, but while wearing the Magic Inhibitors, they will not be able to use magic, thus cannot even fly a broomstick. And the Magic Inhibitors have a built in GPS. They won't be able to go anywhere without us knowing. If they try to escape. They won't get very far."

"What about clothing?" Minna said. "Without their SFS, they are half naked."

"They are Fuso girls, so we can give them Fuso uniforms." Mio suggested. "Just no insignia."

"Good idea." Kye said. She walked over to another corner and opened the door to a closet. "We have the spare uniforms in this closet over here." She glanced over at the three girls lying on the floor. "They are all the same size at a glance, roughly Rei's size."

She picked out three Fuso uniforms and threw one each to Mio and Minna. After dressing the girls, they waited quietly for them to wake up.

"How hard did you hit them?" Mio asked.

"Hard enough to knock them out through their white auras." Kye said. "They'll wake up eventually."

Kye, Mio, and Minna waited for what seemed like hours, when in reality only about twenty minutes passed since they dressed the girls. One finally stirred.

"Ugh..." She said, holding a hand to her head. "My head..."

"Sorry about that." Kye said. "I had to hit you pretty hard to get through your aura."

"Wha... YOU! Where am I?" She started panicking after seeing the other two still unconscious on the floor.

"Which one are you? Aiko or Eiko?" Mio asked.

"Aiko. What's going on here?"

"You've been captured and brought back to our base." Minna said. "We've also taken the liberty of confiscating your Striker Flight Suits and weapons."

The girl immediately looked down at her own body to confirm Minna's statement. "A Fuso uniform?"

"We couldn't just leave you half naked." Kye said.

Aiko's face instantly turned red after realizing what they had done. "Y-you took my SFS off! Who saw me?!"

"Relax, it was only us." Mio said. "You should be happy you at least have something to wear now."

Aiko was still somewhat embarrassed by being undressed and redressed by somebody else.

Nami and Eiko finally stirred awake, both holding and complaining about their heads as well. Kye explained to them what they had just told Aiko when she woke up.

"So what happens to us now?" Nami asked nervously. "Are you going to execute us? Torture us?"

"Nothing of the sort." Kye said. "You are prisoners here, and those bracelets on your right wrists will prevent you from using magic. You won't even be able to fly a broomstick. You will be allowed to roam free on this base so long as you behave yourselves."

"And if we try to escape?" Nami said boldly.

"Not possible. Those bracelets emit a GPS signal. If you leave the base, an alarm will go off, we will pinpoint your location, and will come collect you."

"And if we remove the bracelets?"

"Good luck trying. They are locked and will only respond to three unique magic signatures."

"I assume your magic."

"Mio and Minna as well." Kye said. "You three will be treated as guests here on this base, but prisoners at the same time. You will not be treated unfairly. You will be allowed to bath, eat, and sleep like anyone else here."

"Why so much hospitality?"

"Because you are great granddaughters of my friends. I will not disrespect them by treating you harshly, beyond disciplinary action. Speaking of which... Aiko, Eiko, are you from Keiko's line or Takeko's line?"

"Our great grandmother is Keiko Katou." Eiko reluctantly answered.

"Did you know you have relatives here? Your great aunt Takeko has four great grandchildren in the 511th."

"That's right." Mio said. "Takeko's son married Perrine's daughter. They had two children. Louise II and... I don't know the second daughter's name actually.

Nori's son married the second daughter and had Mei and Kiyoko. Louise II had Louise III and Charles."

"So they are your third cousins." Kye said. "If I'm counting the generations right... Takeko and Keiko's parents would be your great great grandparents, as well as theirs... so yeah third cousins."

"We have family here?" Aiko said quietly.

"That's right." Mio said.

Aiko quieted down after hearing that, as did Eiko.

"So, we're basically guests here that cannot leave?" Nami said. "Nobody here will harm us while we cannot use magic?"

"If they do, report it to us and disciplinary action will be taken." Minna said. "If you wish to have different clothing, speak to us about it and we'll see what can be done. You three will share a room as well."

Nami turned to Aiko and Eiko. "They are already treating us better than at our base."

"Nami, you can't say that!" Eiko said.

"Who cares. It's not like they will be concerned about us." Nami said. "Not with the survival of the fittest attitude around there."

Kye, Mio, and Minna traded glances with each other, wondering just what life was like for the Dark Witches.

"What exactly is going on there?" Kye asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Nami said. "Later?"

Kye was hesitant to agree, but did. "I suppose. Are you..." She was cut off by a grumbling sound.

The three girls held their hands to their stomachs in unison.

"Well that answers that question." Kye said, amused. She stood up and slowly headed toward the door. "Come on, I'll make something for you to eat. Mio, Minna, can you relay their status to the others on base?"

"Sure." Mio said.

Kye lead the girls out of the office and headed toward the kitchen.

* * *

"Dark Witches Nami, Aiko, and Eiko have been captured." Ren reported.

The Dark Witches were gathered in a large dimly lit chamber. To either side of the chamber was a long desk with a row of chairs. Each chair was filled by a Dark Witch, all except three. In the back of the room was a larger desk resembling a judge's bench in a courtroom. Behind it sat a man shrouded in a cloak. His face was not visible, but his long black hair protruded from his hood.

"Master Zen, I request a covert op to rescue them." Katsu said. She was sitting on the right side of the room near the big desk.

"Request denied." The man said.

"Please, Master Zen! I know of our survival of the fittest rule, but..."

"Silence." He said softly. "They lost their battle and captured. As such, if they are to return to the Dark Witches, they are on their own. Your response, Dark Witch Katsu?"

"Yes, sir." Katsu responded also too quietly to be heard.

"Uncle Zen, that's harsh." Yuko, who was sitting near Zen at the large desk in the back, said, teasing him. "Even for you."

"They were given the option to reject the mission and pass it on to more powerful members of the Dark Witches. It is their own fault they took the assignment and failed."

"If you say so." Yuko replied, uninterested.

"Would you like the three team leaders to take the next assignment?" Ren asked.

"With one exception." Zen said. "I want you, Katsu, and Yuko to handle the next assignment. I will let you know when I decide upon a time. Meeting adjourned."

* * *

When Kye arrived at the kitchen with Nami, Aiko, and Eiko in tow, she found Yoshika and Yusu already there making beef stew.

"Hey, Kiddo." Kye said. "That smells good."

"Hey, Kye, who are they?" Yoshika asked. "They seem familiar."

"You may have seen them in the battle in Gallia a few days ago.

"Are they from another wing?"

"Nope." Kye said. "They are Dark Witches."

"Are they from Mio's battle earlier?"

"Yeah. Hey, when will the stew be ready?"

"It's almost done. Just a few more minutes. Why are they here?"

"They are... our guests now."

"Oh, they joined our side?"

"Nope. We captured them."

Yoshika and Lynne were having a hard time reading Kye's expressions. She spoke as though her words carried no weight.

"They are hungry, so do you think they could have some of the stew when it's done?"

"Sure. There's more than enough to go around." Yoshika said. She nudged Kye aside and offered her hand to the three girls. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Yoshika Miyafuji."

"And I'm Lynette Bishop."

Nami was surprised with their hospitality. "Nami Nishizawa."

"Aiko Katou."

"Eiko Katou."

"If you like, you can wait in the dining room there." Yoshika pointed on the other side of the serving bar at a table. "I'll let you know as soon as it's done."

Nami nodded.

"For Dark Witches, you three are pretty tame." Kye said. "I want to talk to you about the situation there after you've had something to eat."

"O-okay." Nami said quietly.

"Hey, Kye. Got a minute?" Came Yami's voice from the hallway.

Kye glanced toward the door. "Sure. Yoshika, please treat them well."

"Okay!" Yoshika said as Kye and Yami left.

"Miss Yoshika, did you know my great grandmother?" Nami asked.

"What was her name?"

"Yoshiko Nishizawa."

"She was known as the Demon Queen of Libau. After we beat the neuroi in 1945, I sparred with her a lot. She was really good. She always seemed to complain about food if it wasn't fresh, though, so she seemed happy when I cooked big meals for everyone. She was nice, too."

"What about Keiko Katou?" Aiko asked.

"Oh, Miss Keiko! I first met her in Egypt. She was really good with a rifle. Did you happen to inherit her Super Vision magic? She could shoot a bullet in midair with her magic."

"I did, but I'm not very good at it. We were all forced to train our sword skills and advance our auras."

"I see. I can't believe any of you are Dark Witches. You don't seem bad at all. How old are you?"

"Seventeen." Aiko said. "Eiko is sixteen, and Nami is seventeen."

"Joining the Dark Witches wasn't a choice." Nami said. "We were forced."

"I see." Yoshika said. "You'll have to tell me all about it after we eat. If there's something I can do to help, I will."

For most of their lives, Nami, Aiko, and Eiko lived at the Dark Witches base under the rule of survival of the fittest. It was quite the surprise to have anyone treating them like friends.

* * *

"So did you talk to her?" Yami asked.

"Who?" Kye said.

"Lily."

"Yeah. It was nice seeing her again."

"So you know?"

"She's the same Lily from our childhood in the Light Kingdom."

"What else do you know? You said you recovered all of your memories. Does that include..."

"Yeah... it does."

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Telepathy** - Liliana

**Space Magic** - Liliana (Mentioned)

**Blade Spell: Reppuzan** - Nami

**Blade Spell: Full-Power Reppuzan** - Nami

**Blade Spell: Distant Cut** - Nami

**Blade Spell: Sonic Slash** - Nami

**Blade Spell: Reppuzan** - Aiko and Eiko (Implied via White Aura)

**Blade Spell: Full-Power Reppuzan** - Aiko and Eiko (Implied via White Aura)

**White Aura (Stage 5)** - Nami, Aiko, and Eiko

* * *

**Energy Projection Reminder**

Just thought I'd list this in case anyone is confused by the Energy Projection Auras

Stage 1 - Basic Golden Aura  
Stage 2 - Green Aura  
Stage 3 - Blue Aura  
Stage 4 - Dark Red Aura  
Stage 5 - White Aura and Black Aura  
Stage 6 - True Golden Aura, Light Aura, and Dark Aura  
Stage 7 - Zen Aura

Notes: The White Aura is obtainable through intense training. The True Golden Aura can be attempted, but rarely ever mastered by any mortal. Two exceptions in history have been the Ancestor Yoshika "Yusu" Miyafuji from 5,000 years ago (she appeared in Worldwide Liberation), and the Yoshika Miyafuji we all know and love. While Mio and Rei have unlocked the True Golden Aura, they are not guaranteed to master it. Kye and Yami have mastered the True Golden Aura due to their status as Light Kingdom Royalty. Kye has even gone a step further and is mastering the Zen Aura, though the cost of using the Zen Aura for very long is high, so it is not something she can use very often. Whether or not Yoshika will learn the Zen Aura remains to be seen. It is unlikely.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter is late! I had a little trouble writing it, then suddenly today... BAM inspiration.**

**So three Dark Witches are now "prisoners" at the Strike Witches base. What will come of them there? And Kye and Yami knows Liliana from the Light Kingdom in the distant past.**

**Let me know what you guys think!**

* * *

******If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	27. Chapter 27: A Day Off

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 27: A Day Off

July 2nd, 2012

* * *

A week had passed since Nami, Aiko, and Elko were brought to the 501st base. They held no secret about the Dark Witches from Kye and the others.

The Dark Witches were brought together by Prince Zen Akari, who served as the Master of the Dark Witches. Yuko Akari, Yami's daughter, served as the battle leader and second in command.

There were very few rules among the Dark Witches. One was "The word of a superior must be treated as law" and another was "If you cannot survive on your own, you are not fit to survive" or just survival of the fittest.

The several members of the Dark Witches were not genuinely evil, but doing what they must. Most of them had some sort of leverage held over them, such as family held hostage, to force them to work in the Dark Witches. A few members were only there to get stronger to battle the neuroi, but were willing to carry out missions given to them even if they disagreed with the concepts.

To make matters worse, all of the Dark Witches were required to fend for themselves. Food, clothing, everything. Combat equipment was supplied so long as they brought in results, but other living necessities had to be earned.

The witches would have to take leave every so often to pick up a part time job somewhere. Most would return to their hometown to avoid having to waste money on housing expenses. Others would live without shelter.

Nami, Aiko, and Elko thought of the 501st base as a safe haven after spending a week there. While they were war prisoners, they were treated like friends not only by Kye and Yoshika, but by everyone else as well.

* * *

"I don't like it." Kye said. She was talking with Yami, Mio, and Minna in Minna's office. "They can't tell us where the Dark Witches base is out of fear of compromising their loved ones, but we can't just sit by and let Zen get away with this."

"I agree." Yami said. "I've been searching for the base for the past week, but he's hiding it well. He's doing something to prevent anyone from detecting their magic while inside the base."

"We'll just have to hope for a lead." Kye sighed and leaned against the wall before shifting her eyes over to Minna. "When is the next mission?"

"Tomorrow."

"What's it about?"

"It's a deep strike style mission. We're sending in a few witches to take out a neuroi fort in Karlsland. It's a smaller base, so we shouldn't be facing too strong of an opposition. There will be reinforcements on standby just out of detection range in the case of unknown variables."

"I'll lead them." Kye said. "If that's alright."

"Actually, I've already picked out a team." Minna said. "Yoshika, Perrine, Louise, Erica, and Trudy."

"I'll fly standby then."

"That's good. Mio, I want you to be on standby as well. And, we should send Lucchini, Shirley, Mei, and Kiyoko, too. How have the Fuso girls been progressing?"

"Very well." Mio said. "Yusu has managed to breach the white aura, and the other four have learned the dark red aura."

"That's stages five and four, respectively, right?" Minna asked.

"Right." Kye said. "Yusu is just absorbing everything we teach her. She's just like Yoshika when she sets her mind to something."

"That's good." Minna said. She leaned back in her chair and started patting her shoulders.

"I'm getting tired of all this paperwork." Kye said. She formed a ball of fire in her hands. "I'm gonna burn the next batch if they don't ease up."

"You have fire magic now?" Minna said.

"I copied it from Mei. I was sparring with her and Yoko earlier."

"I see."

"Minna, take the rest of the day off." Kye said. "You, too Mio. Go do something fun."

The two looked at her with confused expressions.

"Don't get me those looks! That's an order. Go have some fun. Minna, take Alina and Johan out somewhere. Mio, take Mei and Yoko. Go do something."

"Like what?" Mio asked.

"Up to you. I'm taking Rei and Kamiko somewhere in a little while. I might con Yoshika into coming, too. What about you, Yami?"

"I'm fine." Yami said. "I just want to relax alone for a bit. Hold down the fort."

"Oh, come on.

"You guys go ahead." Yami said. "I just want..."

She was interrupted by a knocking on the door. Kye reached over to open it and in came Shirley and Lucchini.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I've finished working on our old reciprocating strikers." Shirley said.

"That fast?" Mio asked.

"Yeah. I had some help. Ally and Jaden are good mechanics, too."

"I've never piloted a reciprocating striker." Yami said. "What's it like?"

Lucchini, having never been able to catch Yami off guard, took the opportunity of Shirley distracting her to sneak up on her.

"It's a lot different than using Air Bands or the SFS."

"Are they hard to fly? I'd like to..." Yami suddenly stopped talking upon feeling her breasts being groped by the sneaky Lucchini. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yours are good! Just like Kye's, but nothing can compare to Shirley." The black haired Romagnan said.

In a flash, Yami twisted around behind Lucchini and returned the favor. "You're not bad yourself. You don't have monsters like Shirley, but yours complement your petite body very well."

In all the years of grabbing breasts, Lucchini had never been the victim. She squirmed and let out a small squeal.

"Oh? You aren't used to being on the receiving end are you?" Yami said, teasing the girl. She squeezed lightly, earning another small squeal from Lucchini.

"That was cute, Lucchini." Shirley said.

"It seems our favorite little grabber finally got grabbed herself." Kye said with a light laugh.

As soon as Yami let go, Lucchini spun around and faced her with a tear in each eye. "That's my job!" She quieted down to only a whisper. "Do you mean it?"

"Mhm." Yami said, earning a big grin from Lucchini.

* * *

Minna ended up taking Kye up on her day off order. She, Alina, and Johan went to London for lunch together. Mio, being her usual self, chose to stay at the base and merely trained with Mei and Yoko, instead of taking a day off.

Kye on the other hand, had a more leisurely idea in mind. A day at the beach! Since the beach was actually on the edge of the base, she was able to convince Yami to join them.

Yoshika jumped at the idea and immediately invited Lynne, Perrine, and their great grandkids. Yusu, Kaylie, Layla, Louise, Charles, Cate, Diana, and James all went along, too. Even Nami, Aiko, and Elko were invited to the beach party.

Mio eventually gave in and brought Mei and Yoko as well.

Upon arriving at the beach, Kye folded out a beach chair, set up an umbrella overhead, and laid down. She was clad in only a dark purple bikini, but did keep both her Jouten and Akarimaru on a towel lying next to her chair.

Sand castles soon filled the beach near the water, at least until waves were thrown up from Reppuzans and other blade spells being launched across the water. Somehow, a competition was made between who could generate the largest wave with a blade spell. No auras were allowed in the competition.

"Mine was bigger!" Mei said.

"No mine!" Yoko argued.

"Mine was bigger than both of yours!" Rei said. "Kamiko beat us, though."

One wave was big enough that it splashed Kye, who had nearly fallen asleep lying down on her beach chair. She picked up her Jouten and walked down to the shoreline. "My turn." She swung her sword, discharging a thing line of magic across the water's surface. She purposely delayed the effects, just to fool the others into thinking she wasn't serious.

Then, the magic set in. She had fired a Shockwave Strike across the water and managed to generate a much larger wall of water than any of the others.  
"Game over. Now stop splashing me." She said grumpily as she returned to the beach chair.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the grumpy Kye, but she paid them no mind. She laid there and watched the others start a new competition. Soon, some rather extravagant sand castles started popping up.

'They seem to be having fun.' Kye thought. 'I'm glad.' She glanced around, curious as to what type of swimwear everyone was wearing. The guys wore simple trunks. The girls were split half and half for one piece swimsuits and two piece bikinis.

As usual, Yoshika and Mio wore a standard Fuso school swimsuit. Yusu wasn't as reserved as Yoshika, having worn a light grey bikini. Kaylie and Layla wore matching crimson red bikinis. Mei wore a bikini with a fiery pattern and Kiyoko wore one with an icy pattern.

'Cute. They are wearing swimsuits that match their magic.'

Most of the other girls were wearing typical one color swimsuits, some with frills, some without.

Yami probably stood out the most. Despite having long white hair, she wore a jet black bikini.

Kye felt a warm smile on her face as she leaned back in her chair and relaxed, eyes closed. 'If only we could do this all the time.'

Yami walked over to Kye and sat down in the sand next to her. "Hey."

"Hi, Yami." Kye said. She didn't open her eyes.

"You know, if you lay like this, they are gonna notice." Yami said.

"Notice what?"

"Your body."

"What about it?"

"How it's so young. You're supposed to be thirty five, yet your body is the same as the day you turned eighteen."

"Yeah. They know I'm weird enough, being a rebirth and all."

"I was actually wondering about that." Yoshika said, having joined them moments ago. "You haven't changed a bit since I first met you. No aging or anything, and I've seen pictures of you at about eighteen years old. You were the same there, too."

"Lesser immortality." Kye said. "I will never age. In short I could very well live forever as a mortal, but I can be killed."

"I thought you told me everything already." Yoshika pouted. "You're holding more back, aren't you?"

"Yes." Kye said. "But what I'm holding secret now is irrelevant to us here. They are secrets of my past life."

"Oh. What was your past life like?"

"How old was I, Yami? Nine thousand nine hundred and... something... when I did the rebirth. It was boring. You already know that I stayed on earth ever since I brought Yuko Miyafuji here. I stayed hidden from sight for most of those years. It was hard to just sit and watch the Ancient Neuroi War happen. I wanted to help, but they would find me, and I couldn't let that happen."

Kye paused for a moment, pondering a thought for a while. "Yoshika, can you do me a favor? I want to talk to Kaylie and Layla for a minute."

"I'll go tell them." Yoshika said as she ran off.

"Are you going to ask them about that?" Yami said.

"Yeah."

Kye watched as the two crimson red bikini clad girls ran over to her.

"Do you really think they could be them? They don't have the same hair color or eye color." Yami asked quietly before the girls approached.

"I don't know." Kye said.

"Hey, you wanted to talk to us?" Kaylie asked.

"Yeah." Kye said. "I know you aren't Kamiko's granddaughters."

The two girls traded glances for a moment before responding.

"What do you know?" Layla asked.

"Are you rebirths?"

"No."

"Then, there's no other way you could have the specific set of magic abilities without being..."

"That's right." Kaylie said. "We couldn't tell you unless you figured it out on your own... mom."

"Well I'll be damned." Yami said. "You ARE the girls..."

"Kaylie Akari." Kaylie said.

"Layla Akari." Layla said. "Second and third born daughters of Crown Princess Kye Akari... you."

"How are you concealing your red hair and silver eyes?" Kye asked.

"We aren't." Kaylie said. "These bodies are mortal versions of our immortal bodies. We do not have access to our immortal magic."

"Zalen stuck you in bodies with lesser immortality." Kye said. "How long?"

"Since the day he took us from the Light Kingdom after we... "created" our daughter." Kaylie said. "Thanks for looking out for her."

"I wasn't about to let him get ahold of her, too." Kye said. "Is there a way to return you to your immortal bodies?"

"I don't know." Layla said. "Our creation and space magic in tandem could do it, but we can't use either anyone where that level in these bodies."

"I probably couldn't do it either, even with the Zen Aura." Kye said. She sighed. "Well... I'm glad I know now."

"What about Rei?" Kaylie asked. "Have you told her yet?"

"No." Kye said. "I don't really want to, either."

"She seems happy as a mortal." Layla said.

"Especially with Kamiko around now." Kye added. "I just don't have the heart to tell her that she's a rebirth of Rei Akari."

"Kaylie, Layla, since you are not rebirths, you wouldn't automatically return to your immortal body if your mortal body was killed, right?" Yami asked.

"Right." Kaylie said. "We'll just die if our mortal bodies are killed."

"I won't let that happen." Kye said. She kept the next thought to herself. 'Even if it means using _that_..."

* * *

**This chapter is not an early release for this week, but an extra release. I still intend to get another chapter out between Tuesday and Thursday!**

**I wanted to give the group a little break. What better method than THE BEACH? Yeah? I considered having everyone come down to the beach, but that would have been a good 40-50 witches/wizards. There's a ton of them around. I did however, give Nami, Aiko, and Eiko a little fun.**

**Kye finally confronted Kaylie and Layla about their true identities... the twin daughters she has been looking for all those years. What will happen now that she's found them?**

**We're hitting the neuroi in the next chapter! See you then!**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	28. Chapter 28: Deep Strike

**(A/N) Japanese translations will be mentioned in the notes at the bottom.**

**With this chapter, SW: Return has broken the 100k word mark. My first story to do so!**

**I had some trouble with uploading this chapter. I did not receive email confirmation and it did not appear in the chapter list after I opened the story manually, so I deleted it and republished it. I apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused.**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 28: Deep Strike

July 3rd, 2012

* * *

"Let's begin." Minna said. Everyone had just gathered for the briefing for the attack mission. Success in this mission would give the witches the necessary ground they need to launch a future attack on the hive in Karlsland, so everyone was present and paying attention.

Yoshika, Perrine, Louise, Erica, and Trude were picked for the mission with Trude leading the assault. Kye, Mio, Lucchini, Shirley, Mei, and Yoko would be flying standby just outside of the neuroi's detection range in case the strike team needed backup.

There was a map of the mission area pulled up on the board. Mio and Minna drew and pointed out the path the strike team would be flying for the least opposition.

Just before the briefing ended, it was interrupted by a certain ghost white haired girl followed by another girl with long jet black hair and a matching jet black outfit, consisting of a simple t-shirt and jeans.

"You're Intel is no longer accurate, General Wilcke." She said as she approached the board.

"And you are?" Minna asked.

"We are conducting a briefing and you are interrupting." Mio said. "Who are you?"

The 511th witches and wizards, as well as Kye and Yami, needed no introduction to know who the white haired girl was, but only Kye and Yami recognized the black haired girl.

"It's all right, Mio, Minna." Kye said. "They are friends."

Liliana turned to face the witches littering the seats around the room. "I know it's been a while, but I hope you can forgive my absence. I see a few new faces, so for the sake of introduction... I am Lieutenant General Liliana Lucch... oomph!"

She was tackled to the floor in a hug from Lucchini.

"Liliana Lucchini." Yami finished. "I see Francesca is happy to see her."

"And I'm surprised to see you." Kye said, eyeing the black haired mystery girl.

"Oujo-sama konnichiha." The girl said, bowing to Kye. She spoke in a soft voice. "Ohisashiburi desu."

"Soudesune." Kye said. "I need to speak this language for those that do not speak ours, if that is okay. I know you don't like speaking it, but could you just for now?"

"Hai." The girl said. "Sorry, Princess."

"Would you like to introduce yourself?"

She turned toward the others and bowed. "My name is Shadow."

'She must not want to use her real name.' Kye thought. She glanced down at Lily, who was still on the floor in a hug with an overly happy Lucchini. "Psst... Lucchini, can I borrow her for a moment?"

"But..."

"Please?"

"Okay." Lucchini reluctantly got up and returned to her seat.

"So, to get to the point, the Intel you have on your mission parameters is no longer accurate." Lily said. "Everywhere is much more heavily guarded, and to top it off... if you are detected, reinforcements will be sent to the fortress you are targeting immediately."

"That's troublesome." Kye said. "I doubt it's a good idea, but I don't suppose we could just brute force our way there?"

"Not a good idea." Lily said. "That will take too much time. If you try it, there will be extra waves of reinforcements and pretty soon you'll be fighting a losing battle. You'll be able to last until your magic runs out, but that's as far as you'll get."

"So we just need to get to the target destination undetected." Minna said.

"Yes, and it's not an easy feat. That's why I have brought... Shadow... here."

"Who is she?" Minna asked.

"A childhood friend from the Light Kingdom." Kye said.

"She's been traveling with me for a while now." Lily said.

"She was with me before that." Yami added. "I ran into Lily a few months ago before I started staying here."

"I see." Minna said. "So is she immortal or how does that work?"

"Those of us who are from the Light Kingdom, but are not here in the mortal world via rebirth are immortal." Yami explained. "The drawback is, to interact with anyone on the mortal plane, we have to condense our power enough for mortal bodies to handle. If our mortal bodies die, it would appear to you as if we vanished, where in reality we have just returned to our immortal status and unable to interact with you anymore. It takes several years to condense our power to the mortal standards, so it's not like we carry no consequence for our mortal bodies dying."

"That makes sense, I suppose." Minna said.

"Enough tangents." Kye said. "Shadow is a childhood friend from the Light Kingdom, here through the same method as Yami. I assume you brought her here so she can assist in the mission using her unique ability?"

"Right." Lily said.

"What is her ability?" Minna said.

"Stealth. She can project a sort of barrier that basically renders anything inside undetectable."

"That solves our detection problem, then."

"How many can you conceal at once?" Kye asked.

"My power isn't limited in number, but in proximity." Shadow said.

"Can you demonstrate?" Minna asked.

She nodded and vanished from sight.

"So it renders one invisible?"

"Not exactly." Kye said. "It's Shadow Magic, not to be confused with Dark Magic. The effects are more complicated than invisibility." Kye waved her hand in the spot where Shadow was standing. "It erases the existence of whoever it affects from everyone not affected. She is not only invisible, but you can't even touch her or hear her. She can hear and see everything, but nothing can detect her. It's as if she doesn't exist to the rest of us while her magic is active. Right, Shadow?"

"Yes." She answered after reappearing in front of everybody.

"So, Minna, what do you think?" Yami asked.

"If she is willing to help us, our mission will be a success." Minna said.

"I am willing to do anything that will help my Princess." Shadow said softly.

Kye put her hand on Shadow's head and ruffled her hair gently. "I'm not a princess here, goofball."

"You will always be my Princess." She said adamantly. "It does not matter to me if you are mortal or immortal."

"All right, then." Kye said, knowing it was useless to argue with the girl. "I want you to help. Get them to their destination so they may accomplish their mission."

"Of course, Princess. Anything you wish." Shadow said, bowing slightly.

"What is her battle skill like?" Trude asked. "Does she have auras and blade spells?"

"I do not." Shadow answered.

"She's unique." Lily said. "She's a capable combatant, though.

"And if Lily says that, it's true." Kye said.

"Other than the addition of Miss Shadow, the mission remains the same." Minna said. "Sneak into the neuroi fort and destroy it. Any questions?"

Nobody asked any questions about the mission, but Lucchini wanted to know how Lily knew Kye and what her connection to the Light Kingdom was. Lily reluctantly explained her status as a rebirth and how she grew up with Kye in their past life.

"All right, then." Minna said. "The mission will begin at 1600. Dismissed."

* * *

About an hour after briefing, it was time to start preparing lunch. Kye and Lily were showing Shadow around the base, with an eager for opportunity Lucchini sneaking around behind them.

As they were walking down the hallway heading toward the kitchen, Lucchini finally saw an opportunity. Lily was straggling behind a short distance. Taking her chance, Lucchini charged, hands extended, but when she tried to latch onto Lily, she ran right through her, as if nothing was there.

Lily used her space magic to phase out just before Lucchini tried to grab her, and phased back in to do the job herself.

"This is the second time somebody grabbed me!" Lucchini said.

"You are pretty sneaky." Lily said as she released Lucchini after having felt groped her enough and turned around with her arms held up. "Okay, your turn."

A tear came to Lucchini's eyes as she reached to Lily's front side. "You're so nice. And perfect! Not too big or small!"

Lily giggled at Lucchini's response. "Yours are the same. I would say I got it from you, but my Light Kingdom self is your ancestor... so you got it from me!"

Kye and Shadow traded amused glances with each other.

"Are you two enjoying yourselves?" Kye said in as teasing a tone as possible.

"Maybe." Lily said.

Lucchini only had a very satisfied expression to give.

Kye waved them toward her. "Well, come on."

As they approached the kitchen, Yoshika was coming out and bumped into Shadow. Kye caught Shadow and Yoshika fell backwards to the floor, though she did manage to catch herself before landing.

"I'm sorry!" Yoshika apologized immediately. Kye held out her hand for Yoshika and pulled her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Miss Yoshika." Shadow said. "You feel, though."

"Oh, I'm fine!"

"Miss Dunce here can just heal herself anyway." Kye said, lightly mocking Yoshika.

"Hehehehe." Yoshika said. "So what are you doing?"

"Showing her around the base." Kye said. "This is our last stop, actually. Would you mind showing her the kitchen?"

"Sure." Yoshika said. "We were just about to start cooking, so I can show her as we go."

"Might I ask what you are preparing?" Shadow asked.

"Tori Dango Zosui."

Shadow's eyes lit up and her formal attitude was replaced by that of an excitement. "I love that! Can I help? I used to cook that for my mother back home."  
Her change in demeanor took everyone aside Kye and Lily by surprise.

"Oh, sure!" Yoshika said, happy about Shadow's interest. "We can compare recipes! Come on!" She grabbed Shadow's arm and pulled her into the Kitchen.

"Well that was unexpected." Kye said. "Amusing, nonetheless. It seems Yoshika and Shadow will get along well."

"I'm glad." Lily said. "She rarely talks to anyone. This will do her some good."

"Yeah." Kye said as she started walking away. "Let's leave them to it."

* * *

"Trude, give me an update." Minna said over the radio.

"We're approaching the border." Trude said. "We'll be in detection range soon."

"Proceed as planned." Minna said. "Kye, Mio and the others will be near the border if you need them."

"Roger that." Trude said.

Trude was leading the stealth invasion of the neuroi fort in western Karlsland. Erica, Yoshika, Perrine, Louise, and Shadow were with her heading in.

"Everyone fall in." Trude said.

"Activating stealth magic, range about twenty meters." Shadow said. "Please stay near me."

As she activated her magic, everyone inside experienced a weird euphoria. The entire world lost its color. Looking out of the stealth barrier was like looking through advanced greyscale night vision goggles.

"Whoa..." Erica said. "This is... weird."

"I don't even know how to describe it." Perrine said.

"Doesn't matter. We have a job to do." Trude said. "Shadow, you know the path we're taking, right?"

"Yes."

"Lead the way. Everyone else, stay close."

As the girls flew over neuroi territory, an occasion neuroi floated above. Not being used to Shadow's stealth magic, they couldn't help but feel uneasy with the occasional enemy overhead, which increased in number the closer they got to their destination.

As they got closer to the neuroi fort they were aiming for, they saw the giant cube shaped structure. Once they were upon it, they few up top and immediately noticed that the fort was identical to the floating neuroi base from Fuso they destroyed a few months back.

"It has a barrier." Louise said. "Just like the Fuso one did."

"Can your magic get us through it?" Trude asked, looking at Shadow.

"Yes." She said. "My magic all but erases us from existence. To anyone outside my stealth barrier, we don't even exist."

"And they can't detect that which doesn't exist." Louise said.

"Let's go then." Erica said.

"Wait a moment. If this base is the same as before, then I know how to get to the core room." Perrine said.

"Shadow's magic can allow things outside the barrier to pass through us, right?" Trude said. "Could we just phase straight through to the core room?"

"I advise against that." Shadow said. "My magic can phase us through objects, but we will not be able to see while inside anything. We could very well go straight through the bottom, fly into the ground, and kept going down without even knowing. If anyone exits my barrier while phasing through, or if my magic power runs out while inside an object, you'll lose whatever body part is phased into an object. There's a high chance of death in that case."

"Scrap that idea, then." Trude said. "We can stay stealth the whole way to the core, though, so we can still get there undetected and destroy it before anything can react to us."

"Yes, and after the core is destroyed, I can reactivate my magic and we can escape."

"Good." Trude said. "Let's go."

The witches entered the barrier and immediately flew toward the tunnel in the middle of the cubical fort. Louise and Perrine guided everyone through the winding passages, occasionally having to phase through a neuroi.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the core room. The core was big and had a barrier around it.

"We can't rely on Shadow's magic to get us through that barrier." Trude said. "We wouldn't be able to attack the core with it active."

Erica pulled her glaive off her back and generated a miniature Sturm around the bladed tip. "I'll destroy the barrier."

"I'll help." Perrine said.

"Me, too." Louise added.

"I'll get the core, then." Trude said. "As soon as the stealth barrier is deactivated, we'll probably get swarmed."

"I'll use my shields." Yoshika said. "So you can focus your magic on your attacks instead of using the SFS for its built in aura."

"Roger that." Trude said. "When you're ready, Shadow."

As soon as she dropped her barrier, the entire room lit up red and dozens of beams shot toward the witches, only to be blocked by Yoshika's many shields. Erica rammed her glaive into the barrier, managing to dig into it somewhat. She, Perrine, and Louise channeled their wind and lightning magic into the weapon and shattered the barrier.

Trude pounded her fists together in excitement and charged forward, putting as much magic as possible into her punch. The core shattered, and slowly the entire fort started to disintegrate, leaving behind a mass of white neuroi fragments.

Shadow reactivated her magic, covering all but Yoshika initially. Yoshika was just out of range, but launched a white aura enhanced Power Wave, destroying every neuroi within one hundred meters.

Shadow pulled Yoshika into the stealth barrier and the witches took off toward home.

* * *

"Mission successful." Kiyoko reported. She was able to sense the destruction of the neuroi fort from such a long distance due to Kye and Mio channeling their magic to her. "I momentarily sensed the strike team, and then all but Yoshika disappeared. She was slightly out of range of Miss Shadow's stealth barrier, but she destroyed a few neuroi just before Shadow pulled her into the barrier. I assume they are on their way back here."

"If they fly straight here, estimated travel time is about twenty minutes." Mio said. "We'll wait for them to return."

"Good job, witches." Minna said over the radio. "We're one step closer to a hive assault. With this neuroi fort out of the picture, their force will be drastically reduced."

"They certainly won't be able to supply the ridiculous amount of reinforcements as they did in that battle in Gallia." Kye added. "I have one other goal, however, before we assault the hive." "What's that?" Mio asked.

"We will attack the Dark Witches base and free the girls there that are forced into fighting."

"You know the location?"

"Not yet." Kye said. "But the three Dark Witches we are housing do, and they have promised to talk if we rescue their family beforehand."

"All right. When?"

"I don't know yet." Kye said. "We are still a few weeks away from a possible hive invasion, regardless. We have to thin out the neuroi numbers in western Karlsland before we can move to the hive in the east. And there's still one more fort to destroy in central."

"I'm for the idea." Mio said. "If we can free the Dark Witches, perhaps they will fight for us." "I hope so."

* * *

**Translations**

**Shadow:** Oujo-sama konnichiha (王女こんにちは): Hello, Princess.

**Shadow:** Ohisashiburi desu (お久しぶりです): It's been a long time.

**Kye:** Soudesune(そうですね): Indeed

**Shadow:** Hai (はい): Yes

**Yoshika:** Tori Dango Zosui: Chicken Meatball Rice Soup

**Note:** I don't know the Kanji for Tori Dango Zosui and it wasn't given on the recipe page where I found it.  
Note2: Many words and phrases in Japanese have multiple meanings. I am confident these phrases are accurate in the context they were used. I don't claim to be 100% perfect with my translations, but I did research phrases in context to find these. If you have corrections and sources for any of these, feel free to talk to me about them.)

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Wind and Lightning Combination Attack** - Erica, Perrine, and Louise

**Power Strike** - Trude

Note: Power Strike isn't named in the chapter itself, but this is the name of the attack Trude used when she channeled her magic into her fist and punched the core to pieces. It's derived from an Energy Projection technique called "Instant Projection" where the user pours a mass of energy/magic into their attack for only a split second. Trude's variant lasts longer than a split second and is not an Energy Projection technique itself, but a "Blade Spell" used with her enchanted gauntlets. (I Hope you guys didn't forget that every one of the 501st have enchanted weapons now and a fair knowledge of Blade Spells adapted for their specific weapons.) Trude's Power Strike is a very strong attack but cannot be used in rapid succession. It's damage potential rivals that of the Full-Power Reppuzan used with the White Aura (Previously known as the Shin Reppuzan).

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Shadow**  
**Age:** ~10,000  
**Appearance:** She has long black hair, wears black clothing, and has silver eyes.

**Note:** Everyone from the Light Kingdom has silver eyes.  
**Note2:** Shadow is not her real name, but a nickname derived from my former username "Shadow1121". Her real name is known by Kye, Yami, and Lily, though none of them will speak of it if Shadow does not want it revealed. She has her reasons for keeping it secret, so don't poke at her!

* * *

**So by now, all of the 511th (and obviously the 501st) know who is from the Light Kingdom, who is a rebirth, and who isn't. Kye, Rei, and Lily are all rebirths of their Light Kingdom selves, although Rei has no knowledge of her own status as a rebirth, and only a few others know at all. Yami and Shadow (as well as Zen Akari and Yuko Akari) are not rebirths, but entered the mortal world by sealing their power as immortals from the Light Kingdom are too powerful to exist in the mortal world. (They would be unable to interact with any mortals without sealing their power to a mortal level, so their higher power is useless. Only the gods can exist in the mortal world at their full power, though there are several rules on what the gods can and cannot do, one being that they cannot interfere with mortal affairs without permission from Queen Xera or King Zalen.)**

**We also know now that there is one more neuroi fort in central Karlsland to destroy before the witches can attack the hive in eastern Karlsland. Aside from the neuroi, Kye intends to free the Dark Witches from Zen's control. Nami, Aiko, and Eiko have agreed to divulge information on the Dark Witches as soon as their family is rescued from wherever they are being held hostage.**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	29. Chapter 29: Operation Dark Freedom

**(A/N) FanFiction was having some issues with email notifications over the weekend when I released the last chapter. Some of you may not have gotten the notification for Chapter 28, so just as a heads up, make sure to check that chapter out before this one if you haven't already!**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 29: Operation Dark Freedom

* * *

July 8th, 2012

"Is this the right place?" Kye asked. Using her SFS, she sent a video feedback to the base in Britannia. Rei and Kamiko had come with her on her mission. On standby were a few members of Yokosuka's search and rescue witch squad. The hostages they had come to rescue were being held right under their noses in Yokosuka.

"Yes. That's it." Nami said over the radio. "That's where my parents and baby sister are being held. All of my team's family is there, except Katsu's. I don't know where her family is."

"We will rescue everyone here and proceed from there." Kye said. "Rei, Kamiko, remember we may face opposition, so be prepared for anything."

"Roger."

The three witches descended from the sky a fair distance away from the target building and approached on foot to make sure they wouldn't be seen by anyone that might be watching the air.

Surprisingly, there were no guards, but upon opening the door to the building, they found only one person inside, Dark Witch Katsu Kuroe. Inside the building was only a stool. Katsu was sitting there, eyes closed.

"So you finally came, huh?" Katsu said. She didn't have her spear with her, only her sword. She didn't move from her stool, not even when Kye, Rei, and Kamiko approached her.

"I take it there are no hostages here." Kye said.

"No." Katsu said. "They were moved after you captured Nami, Aiko, and Eiko." The girl opened her eyes, but did not look at any of the three standing before her. She turned her head to the ground to her left, although her eyes were seeing memories instead of the hard concrete floor. "If you know about the hostages, then you must know about our situation."

"You are forced into working in the Dark Witches by having loved ones held hostage." Kye said.

"Yes." Katsu said. "Even now, I'm here talking to you against my will, but I have no choice."

"You do have a choice. Come with us." Kye said. "Help us find the hostages so that we may free them."

"It doesn't work that way." Katsu said. "The stakes are higher for me... for each of the team leaders. If I give you any information, he will know... and he will kill the remaining members of my team... and probably try to kill me as well."

"And if he cannot kill you, then he will do away with the hostages he holds against you." Kye said. "He's always been sadistic, but he's not psychic, and neither is Yuko. If we can rescue all of the hostages at once, he won't have any leverage over any of the Dark Witches."

"This is true, but we are being watched." Katsu said. "Our watcher cannot see or hear us in here, but expects us to fight outside. If you leave without a fight, my team is as good as dead."

Kye sat down on the floor and began to think. "Okay, but I need an answer to a few questions."

"What?"

"Do you know where all of the hostages are being kept?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to be freed from Zen's control?"

Katsu hesitated to answer, but reluctantly nodded.

"If you are killed, what will happen to your team or hostages?" Kye asked.

Kye smirked. "All right, then. Get ready." She ran over behind Katsu, kicked her out of the door, and ran out after her.

As soon as she got to her feet, Katsu had her white aura active and her sword drawn, though Kye had her light aura active, having taken it a step further, surprising Katsu.

Katsu jumped forward, charging at Kye, but the latter moved so quickly, that she didn't even have a chance to react. Kye delivered a switch kick to her back and knocked her to the ground. Kye pinned her foot on Katsu's chest and delivered a very precise stab, purposely missing vital organs, but from a distance it would look as if she was stabbed through the heart. She channeled her magic into Katsu to knock her unconscious to give her the appearance as if she'd died and block any sort of sensing ability that would allow one to sense that she was alive.

Kye removed her sword and pretended to check for vitals. After claiming Katsu was dead, she picked up Katsu's unconscious body and headed toward the naval base.

Yoshika was at the base, waiting just in case she was needed. After a healing session, Katsu was as good as new, and it was time to return to Britannia. Shadow, who was at Yokosuka Naval base with Yoshika, was asked to use her magic to transport Katsu to the Britannia base undetected.

* * *

Katsu finally woke up about six hours later lying in the infirmary of the 501st base. At first, she was unsure of where she was, but after looking out of the window, she remembered. She had a brief fight with Kye, but was overwhelmed.

She jumped up, walked around a bit, and slowly noticed that her magic was sealed off. After passing in front of a mirror, she also noticed a black band was on

her left wrist and her SFS was replaced with a Fuso Navy Lieutenant's uniform. "Wha..?"

The door opened while she was looking at the mirror. "Oh, you're awake. How do you feel?"

Katsu glanced over at the door and saw Kye and Yoshika coming in. "Uh... I'm fine. A little confused, but fine. What happened, why am I here, and where is my SFS?!"

"Your SFS was removed partly for repair, but mostly so you could not use it." Kye said. "You've probably noticed by now, but your magic is sealed. That black band on your arm is restricting it. I had to get pretty rough with you, and I wasn't sure how well you'd react once you woke up."

"I see." Katsu said, understanding perfectly. "You wanted to make sure that I wouldn't freak out or something and jeopardize your little plan. You faked my death!"

"Right." Kye said. "Do you feel any pain in your chest?"

"None at all... although I remember a sharp intense pain before you knocked me out. You weren't kidding when you said that would hurt... heh."

"Sorry about that. I had to get rough with you to make it believable. To the person watching you, it would have looked one sided, but Zen knows how the odds stack between the fifth and sixth stage auras."

"Yeah. Damn though, I actually tried against you, but I couldn't do anything!"

Kye seemed somewhat apologetic. "I've been doing this for a while. Anyway, if you are not hurt would you mind coming to the Commander's office here on base to discuss a few things with myself and the other Commanders here?"

"Sure, but I'd like to see Nami and the Katou sisters first."

"They are probably in the common room." Kye said. "Oh, one more thing."

"Hmm?"

"I hope you don't mind having somebody else change your clothes while you were unconscious."

"Why would I?"

"Well... after I removed your SFS, which I did so in private, only me, you were in only your undergarments, as the usual for somebody using an SFS. Your bra was soaked in blood and damaged from the stab wound I gave you. It can be fixed if you would like, but I fetched a similar one for you from our clothing supply and added a Fuso uniform."

"No, it's fine. Nami and the others would probably have been a little embarrassed, but they are still kids." Katsu said.

"Good, just wanted to let you know in case it mattered at all." Kye said as she gestured for the door. "Come on. And yes, they were embarrassed, by the way."

Katsu let a giggle out as the three left the room.

* * *

"KATSU!" Eiko yelled as soon as she saw her enter the common room. Aiko and Eiko swarmed Katsu, almost tackling her to the ground. Nami watched from her chair, happy to see them like that, but worried that Katsu was there at all. She glanced over to Kye, who was also watching the other three with an amused expression. "So what happened?"

Kye gestured for Nami to follow. "Come on, you three, too."

"What?" Aiko asked.

Kye led them to Minna's office, where the various commanders where assembled. Minna, Mio, Bell, Yusu, Lionhardt, Allison, Valterri, and Rosalie, the commanders and battle commanders of the 501st and 511th, were all present.

"So what's the deal?" Mio asked. "What are we doing?"

"We're hatching a plan, and we need to do it quickly." Kye said. She had probably the most serious expression on her face since 1945. "I faked Katsu's death for her, and with that, we have the golden opportunity to take down the Dark Witches."

"Take them down?!" Katsu said. "I'm not..."

"Hold on." Kye interrupted her. "If you will be cooperative, we can rescue all of the hostages Zen has taken to hold leverage over the various Dark Witches. You said we have to rescue them all at once, otherwise it won't work."

"There's one more thing I didn't mention back then... I didn't really expect you to do this." Katsu said. "Even if I were to die and it be reported to Zen, he would still move the hostages, so this has to be done fast. You have three days at the most."

"That's fine." Kye said. "We can do that. We need the locations of every hostage and we need to get them out. While that's going on, a main force will attack the Dark Witches base directly. All of our strongest members will go."

"Who will that be?" Minna asked. "The entire 501st as well as a few others. Yami, Lily, Shadow, and Kamiko will all go as well. The Fuso 511th girls have progressed significantly with their training."

"That's right." Yusu said. "I am able to use the white aura now, as are Kaylie, Layla, Mei, and Yoko. And Louise has worked with Perrine the last several weeks to enhance her own abilities."

"As it stands. The 511th Fuso, 501st, and the few other witches with us are all capable of combat on the fifth stage level... with a few of us higher than that." Kye said. "We have the numbers to fight the Dark Witches themselves, but the only two we need to fight are Zen and Yuko. I will fight Zen myself. I have no doubt in my mind that he has fully mastered the sixth stage auras, just as Yami and I have. Yuko as well. Yami will fight her."

"What about us?" Katsu asked.

"I am willing to allow you to participate if only to get your comrades to stand down." Kye said. "That is a key role in this plan."

"Of course." Katsu said.

Katsu explained in detail the locations of every hostage. There were six locations to be covered all around the world. One in Fuso, one in Romagna, one in Britannia, two in Liberion, and one in Egypt. The Dark Witches base was located on an island several hundred kilometers north west of Baltland and north east of Britannia.

Kye assigned Bell to organize who was going where as far as the hostage rescue was concerned. The 511th was covering the rescue efforts since the entire 501st would be participating in the offensive.

Lion, Allison, and Johan of the 511th Liberion group would be leading three of the teams; Valterri and Rosalie of the 511th European group would be leading two of the teams; and Bell would be leading the final group as well as acting as the center focus for coordination between the groups.

The 501st would be assisted by Yami, Lily, Shadow, and Kamiko, as well as the 511th Fuso group in the assault.

Kye cleared everyone's schedule for the next three days and set the mission, which was known as Operation Dark Freedom. The following day, everyone was told to sleep early and wake early. They had to be up at 0500 and ready to go on the 10th.

They were scheduled to go to their destinations in the early morning and commence the operation at 1400.

* * *

July 10th, 2012  
1430 hours.

"This is Major General Isabel Hartmann, contacting Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji. Do you read?"

"Yes, this is Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji, go ahead."

"We have successfully captured every location and rescued all of the hostages simultaneously. There were no Dark Witches in any location, so expect to see their full force at their base. Your turn."

"Roger that." Kye said. She raised her voice. "You heard her, people! Let's go!"

Hidden in Shadow's stealth barrier, everyone was floating above an island housing a large fortress. It was the base of the Dark Witches.

As soon as the stealth barrier was dropped, an air raid siren went off and several witches clad in dark colored SFS units flew out to intercept, though some of them stopped short upon seeing Katsu alive.

Ren, Aira, Aero, and a few of the others did not hesitate, however. Each found themselves in combat rather quickly. Yoshika, Rei, and Mio engaged Ren, Aira, and Aero, respectively. The other witches picked opponents at random.

Katsu was able to slowly convince a few more of the Dark Witches to stop fighting after revealing that the hostages had been rescued, but some did not believe her. The leader of team two, Hairi, even went as far as engaging Katsu.

In the midst of the confusion, Shadow cloaked Kye and Yami, allowing them to slip through and go straight to the fortress to find Zen and Yuko, leaving Mio and Minna to coordinate the battle above.

* * *

Yami split off to go battle Yuko else ware when they found Zen. Shadow returned to the battle in the sky, leaving Kye and Zen to have a private match.

"So you've come." Zen said, his voice echoing in the gigantic chamber where he was waiting. "I had a feeling Katsu's death was false. I almost believed that you had killed her, but you're too much of a pacifist toward mortals."

"Give up now, Zen." Kye said. "I will kill your mortal body and send you back to the Realm of Light otherwise."

"At this point, it doesn't matter." Zen said. "My goal has been accomplished. However, I will not pass up the opportunity to fight you. It's been far too long, after all."

"I believe it's been since before Xera named us the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness."

"Oh, so you really do have all of your memories back. I was worried at first that this wouldn't be very satisfying." Zen drew his dark colored katana and licked the blade. "I see I have nothing to worry about. Let's skip the warm ups and get right to the big event, Goddess of Light Kye Akari."

"So be it, God of Darkness Zen Akari." Kye said as the two vanished. They cleared the room in an instant, having both activated their light and dark auras respectively, and meet blades with each other, generating a powerful shockwave that rattled the fortress. Dust and a few bricks fell from the ceiling as they clashed.

"This would be so much more entertaining if we were in our immortal bodies." Zen said. "It's too bad I can't force you into that."

"I don't know... I think we are tearing the place up enough as it is." Kye said. "If we were fighting in our immortal bodies instead of our mortal bodies, this entire island would have been blown away during our first clash."

"That's the fun of it!" Zen said as he lashed away at Kye from a distance, launching several waves of dark magic from his blade. Kye returned the favor with a light magic variant of the same attack. Their series of attacks crashed into each other, some dissipating, some ricocheting, and some even exploding.

Neither missed a single beat in their offensive. As they finished one attack, both started up another attack. Kye formed several spears of light around her body and launched them forward at a blinding speed. Zen countered with a barrier of dark magic and even used his barrier to launch hundreds of small toothpick sized darts of dark magic back at Kye.

Kye held her hand out, focusing her magic and released a powerful shockwave, known as Shockwave Blast. Her shockwave attack sent the dark magic darts flying in several directions, covering the walls and ceiling in holes. The moment the air was clear of darts, a powerful wave of dark magic was already in midflight toward Kye, though she merely dodged it and countered Zen as he appeared next to her, using the former attack as a distraction, albeit unsuccessfully.

Kye parried Zen's attack, grabbed his free arm with hers, and released a nova of light magic using her body as a focal point. The attack launched Zen backwards through the right wall of the chamber, and the attack itself collapsed the ceiling.

With their fight taken into the sky, the witches fighting overhead turned to watch, in awe of the power displayed in front of them. Even Yoshika was taken aback by the ferocity of the two fighters.

The two moved at a speed beyond Mach 5 and clashed many times above the island, each time generating a shockwave that shook the very souls of their audience.

Every attack was infused with an enormous amount of magic. A battle at such a level could not last very long, but neither would back down.

Kye threw several balls of light around the general area. The balls quickly connected via strings of light and soon formed a large spherical barrier. Kye threw a super powered version of her Light Nova inside the barrier and watched as the blinding flash engulfed Zen.

He emerged in one piece, albeit with his SFS having taken a fair bit of damage even through the defensive power of his dark aura. His body, what of it was visible, only had a few scratches, though he didn't have time to react to Kye's next attack.

She focused a large portion of her remaining magic in her hand, forming a concentrated sphere of light magic energy. "Keikei, Kousen!" The sphere of light magic energy erupted forward in a beam of light, hitting and carrying Zen backward, roughly five kilometers, into the sea.

She didn't stop there, however. She simultaneously activated the dark aura while maintaining the light aura and threw both the Light Nova and Dark Nova attacks at the location Zen had landed in the sea. Her attacks landed at the water's surface and exploded together, violently at that, and threw up tall tsunamis, though the omnidirectional tsunami didn't go any further than five hundred meters before leveling off.

Zen finally managed to recover from Kye's string of attacks and return to the airspace above the island. Both fighters were worn out, but Kye had an ace in the hole. Pooling the three stage six auras together, she managed to activate the Zen Aura long enough to land a devastating blow, finishing him off with the Zen Reppuzan.

The attack tore clean through his body, leaving it in two pieces cut from his left shoulder to right hip. Instead of falling to the ground below, however, his body simply disintegrated.

Kye breathed a sigh of relief as she completely deactivated her aura and landed on the ground, close to being completely drained of magic power.  
Upon seeing their master defeated and killed, the Dark Witches who were still fighting sheathed their weapons.

Pretty soon, a battle torn Yami and Yuko joined Kye on the ground below.

The fighting was over.

"Hey." Kye said, greeting the worn out mother and daughter. "Are you two all right?"

"Yeah." Yami said. "We had a... personal moment, but we're gonna be fine now."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Kye." Yuko said. "I let Uncle Zen cloud my judgment."

"No need to worry." Kye said. "Zen does that, but his mortal body is gone now." She glanced up at the Dark Witches in the sky, now seemingly friends with the Strike Witches they had been fighting. "Not only does he no longer have leverage over them, but he's not even here to harm them."

"That's good." Yuko said. "I hope they will forgive me."

"I'm sure a talking is all it will take to understand." Kye said. She turned her intercom back on. "Operation Dark Freedom has been successfully completed. Everyone rest up for a little while before the return trip."

* * *

July 15th, 2012

The Dark Witches were freed from Zen's control and were even made into a Joint Fighter Wing by Kye. Each member was given a rank appropriate to their status in the Dark Witches prior. They were now known as the 516th Joint Fighter Wing, but still kept the nickname Dark Witches, just as all of the other wings had a nickname.

Kye had not felt the same since the battle. She couldn't place it at first, but soon had a guess. Despite defeating Zen, what he said gave Kye an uneasy feeling. 'What did he mean by his goal was completed...'

"Mom, we need to talk." Rei said as she entered Kye's room. She had a very serious expression. "I know what I am, and I know what's going on with you."

Kye couldn't speak out of surprise.

Rei closed the door and sat down on the floor, gesturing for Kye to join her. "I want you to stop fighting."

* * *

**Techniques Introduced**

**Dark Magic Sword Discharge** - Zen (Similar to the Reppuzan. This is a Dark Magic Blade Spell. Not to be confused with the Blade of Oblivion technique.)

**Light Magic Sword Discharge** - Kye (Similar to the Reppuzan. This is a Light Magic Blade Spell. Not to be confused with the Kami Katto technique.)

**Light Magic Spears** - Kye (Inspired by a technique from Bleach - Hado #91 Senjū Kōten Taihō)

**Dark Magic Barrier** - Zen (A simple but powerful curved barrier, able to protect only front one general direction.)

**Dark Magic Darts** - Zen (Launches hundreds of small darts of dark magic at a target)

**Shockwave Blast** - Kye (Similar to the Shockwave Strike, but used without a weapon and targeted in a single location rather than a line.)

**Wave of Darkness** - Zen (Simply an energy discharge of dark magic. Think of Dragon Ball Z's Kamehameha.)

**Light Nova Variant** - Kye (Kye uses her body as the center of the Light Nova attack. She is unharmed from it.)

**Light Prison** - Kye (She uses several balls of light thrown in seemingly random direction as focal points to create a large barrier.)

**Enhanced Light Nova** - Kye (Simply a more powerful version of the original Light Nova that is thrown at the target.)

**Kousen** - Kye (This technique has been seen before, but deserved a mention.)  
-Augmentation: Keikei (Peircing)

**Simultaneous Light and Dark Aura** - Kye (Simply activating both the Light and Dark Auras at the same time. Very difficult.)

**Simultaneous Light and Dark Nova** - Kye (Using both the Light Nova and Dark Nova at the same time.)

**Zen Reppuzan** - Kye (The most powerful form of the Reppuzan. Known as the Shin Reppuzan in canon.)

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Dark Witch Hairi** - (Already appeared, but only named in this chapter. She is the leader of Team Two in the Dark Witches.)

* * *

**Big fight in this chapter! I put a little extra effort into this one and created a few new techniques on the spot, one being inspired by a spell from Bleach (mentioned in the techniques section above). Kye has revealed that she is the Goddess of Light and Zen is the God of Darkness. I imagine some of you have figured that out by now or at least suspected it from all the hints I've given. The mortal Kye Miyafuji, the immortal Princess Kye Akari, and the Light Goddess Kye Akari are all one in the same. That also goes for Prince Zen Akari being the Dark God Zen Akari. Same names? Not a coincidence. What about Princess Yami Akari, though? And what does this say for Rei, Kaylie, and Layla? (Their immortal forms at least.)**

**The Dark Witches have been reformed as the 516th Joint Fighter Wing "Dark Witches".**

**The next chapter will be the final chapter of the European Arc. After that, we will have five chapters in the Final Arc and an "after story" type of chapter at the end.**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	30. Chapter 30: To Do What You Must

Strike Witches: Return

European Arc

Chapter 30: To Do What You Must

* * *

July 15th, 2012

"I want you to stop fighting."

Kye was dumbfounded. "Stop fighting? Pfft. And of course you know what you are... you are my daughter."

"Twice." Rei said. "I know I am a rebirth."

Kye looked down, unsure what to think of it. "How long?"

"Since my near death experience in Liberion. I started noticing this when you started using the Zen Aura, and Aunt Yami probably has noticed it as well... and Lily and Shadow. You are losing your magic."

Kye sighed. "Yes, I am. When I fought Zen a few days ago, I wasn't sure if I could still even activate the Zen Aura. I couldn't have finished him off without it, though."

"You are still strong, but your magic is decreasing." Rei said. "It's about twenty five percent weaker now than when I checked after the battle in Gallia on June 20th. I want you to stop fighting."

"I can't do that. You know I can't."

"Mom, if you don't stop, you're magic will be completely gone by your birthday this year."

"I'll be thirty five..." Kye said quietly. "And we used to believe witches couldn't go past twenty very long. I can't stop fighting, though, not until Yoshika masters Zen Serenity."

"You can't even teach that spell to her." Rei said. "It's impossible for mortals."

"I know, but she's not an ordinary mortal." Kye said. "She's a one in five thousand year special case... just like Yuko Miyafuji... just like the Yusu from five thousand years ago. She has the potential."

"That doesn't mean you have to keep fighting!"

"That's enough, Rei." Kye said suddenly. "I love you, and I know you are looking out for me, but I will not step down."

"Mom!"

Kye sighed again. "If I take it a little easier... will that work as a compromise?"

Rei reluctantly nodded and hugged Kye.

"All right, then. Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving. Lucchini is making Spaghetti for dinner."

Before they could leave, Kaylie and Layla suddenly appeared in front of the door.

"So you know, huh?" Kaylie said.

Kye and Rei both stopped short.

"Yeah... little sister." Rei said, teasing the twins.

"Hey, we're the big sisters now. You're only sixteen." Layla said.

"Yeah, yeah." Rei waved her off.

Kye couldn't help but smile at the sight of all three of her daughters together again.

* * *

As the following weeks progressed, Kye started feeling weaker and weaker. Enough so that even Yoshika and Mio started noticing, though they remained quiet about it.

The witches destroyed the neuroi fort in central Karlsland on July 29th. Kye stayed out of that battle, by request of not only Rei, but all three of her daughters.

* * *

August 5th, 2012

One week later, Kye flew to Fuso to intercept a single Class Eight super large type neuroi. She didn't know it was a guise to send her away.

Recon witches spotted a large neuroi invasion force heading for Britannia and knew a big battle was only hours away. To prevent Kye from realizing what was going on, they had to cut off her SFS from communications without her knowing, which wasn't an easy feat.

After receiving confirmation that Kye had arrived in Fuso to wait for the incoming neuroi, the witches prepared for battle. Only thirty minutes passed between preparation and the first shot.

Neuroi filled the skies.

* * *

Kye had just arrived in Fuso, but was having trouble with her SFS. She couldn't contact the other witches, view their locations on the holographic map, or view any video feed from the other SFS units. It was as if she was cut off from the others.

She didn't see the neuroi that was inbound to Fuso anywhere, so she decided to pay a visit to Ichiro.

"Kye!" Ayame said as Kye landed in the backyard. Ayame was tending to the clothes drying on the line.

"Hey, Ayame. Is Ichiro home?"

"He's in his workshop."

"All right."

"What brings you to Fuso?" Ayame asked before Kye could head over to Ichiro's workshop.

"There's a single neuroi headed this way, but I haven't seen it yet. I've been having some trouble with my SFS systems since I left Britannia, so I can't see it on radar either. I was hoping Ichiro could take a look at it while I'm here."

"I don't know what he's working on right now, but as far as I know he doesn't have any big projects open right now."

"Okay. I'm gonna go say hi, then." Kye said as she waved to Ayame and walked toward the workshop entrance.

* * *

The witches intercepted the neuroi in the northern tip of Gallia in Dunkirk, right near the shoreline. They couldn't believe how many neuroi filled the skies.

Minna, Alina, Johan, and Kiyoko all had to work together to count them, and their count came out to over four thousand. Eighty percent of the numbers were of a lower class that any skilled witch could take out easily, but that last quarter were large, super large, a few colossal, and one hundred humanoid. Of the humanoid neuroi, seventy-three were Class Eight normal warriors, twenty-one were Class Nine elite warriors, five were Class Ten super elite warriors, and one was an unknown at an even higher level.

The neuroi did not attack at first, much to the witches' surprise, but the single super-powered humanoid neuroi approached the witches alone. Its body was different from the other humanoids. Instead of the usual red, its second color was a dark orange. It was slightly bigger and had a much more imposing presence, perhaps from its more demonic appearance, or perhaps from its abnormally high energy level, high enough to make even a stage six aura-wielding witch be on high alert.

"Hello, witches." The neuroi said. "My sources may be inaccurate about her appearance, so I might simply be overlooking her, but I do not see your esteemed leader. Is she here?"

Minna took the lead. "If you are referring to Kye Miyafuji, she is not here. I'm afraid you'll have to settle for us."

The neuroi acted as if Minna didn't even exist. It pointed at Yoshika, having sensed her abnormally strong magic power. "You there, where is the one that defeated Master Zen Akari?"

"My Commander has already answered your question."

"Oh? I apologize. My attention span skips over those with inadequate power. One more time please?"

Mio had already grown angry, but managed to keep it in check. "She said Kye isn't here. If you require an opponent, I will face you."

"You have a strong magic power, but you would last only seconds against me. That would be boring and a waste of both our time. I would much rather you fight one of my Super Elite instead. You would have an enjoyable battle at least."

"You are obviously the leader of the army behind you. Might you state your name?" Yusu asked.

"Oh, where are my manners." The neuroi said. "I am Xale, Supreme Commander of the Neuroi Army."

"Supreme Commander." Mio repeated.

"Yes, that's right." Xale said. "If your leader is not present, might I inquire about another of significant power... is Commander Xala present? I do not sense her energy signature or see her anywhere, but she is good at concealing herself."

"I am here, Xale." Xala said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "I was wondering when the Supreme Commander would show himself. I must admit that your power is quite high, but even so... it pales in comparison to the Neuroi Queen, who fell by the hands of Miss Yoshika here."

"If you wish to believe that, go right ahead." Xale said. "It is true that the Prodigal Witch here defeated the Queen in the past, but the few us that have survived since that day have grown significantly."

"Do you believe yourself on our dead Queen's level?" Xala asked. "You fool yourself."

"Perhaps." Xale said. "It is to my knowledge that Miss Prodigal Witch here could only defeat the Queen with that True Golden Aura and... what's it called now... the Zen Reppuzan? Can she perform that technique at will now?"

"It would be better if you didn't try to find out the hard way." Xala said. "Stop this needless war. The humans will not harm us if we do not harm them."

"You know me better than that, Xala." Xale shot back.

"Unfortunately, I do..." Xala said. "You are no more than a warmonger that cannot let go of the defeat of our mother, the Queen, in the last war. If there is to be peace, you must be destroyed."

Xala started to raise her hand to form a neuroi blade, but Yoshika held her arm in front of her to hold her back. "No. Let me, Miss Xala."

"Miss Yoshika?"

"I can sense his evil intentions." Yoshika said.

"Sense all you want." Xale said as he floated backwards. "If you want to battle me, go through my army."

In a split second, before Xale even had time to retreat, Yoshika activated her True Golden Aura and fired the Zen Reppuzan at him, much to his great surprise. He was unable to avoid it, but managed to defend against it somewhat, albeit being carried backwards by it for several kilometers and taking significant damage. Three of the five Class Ten humanoid neuroi moved in to guard him, as did one colossal sized neuroi hovering above.

"Witches, ATTACK!" Minna commanded.

* * *

"Hey, Ichiro." Kye said as she entered the back room of his workshop. She immediately noticed an outfit hung up in the middle of the room nearly identical to her battle kimono. "What's this?"

"SFS Mark 2." Ichiro said. "You have good timing. I was just about to call you over here to Fuso."

"I'm here on duty, actually. There's a neuroi heading this way."

"There is?" Ichiro said as he pulled up the radar on the big monitor. "There's no neuroi within a thousand kilometers of here."

"It should have been here by now..." Kye muttered.

"I don't see any on the radar." Ichiro said. "It will alert us as soon as it detects one. In the meantime, would you like to test out the Mark 2?"

"Sure."

"It's worn like normal clothing. Underneath you wear a one piece, like what you, Mio, and Yoshika normally wear under your uniforms. Then you just put on the Mark 2 like it's your battle kimono. I designed it to be not only more advanced, but simpler as well."

"Neat." Kye said as she picked up the one piece lying under the Mark 2. "Turn around, I'm just gonna change in here."

In only a minute, Kye switched out of her SFS and into the SFS Mark 2. It was as weightless as her normal clothing.

"There wasn't a lot I could do about increasing power output, but I was able to increase the speed." Ichiro said. "The power output is about five percent higher, and the speed is about fifty percent higher. You and Yoshika both have managed to fly up to Mach 6.5, so in a similar occasion, you should see a speed of about Mach 9.75, perhaps even Mach 10 if you really push it."

"That fast?"

"One more thing." Ichiro said. "I know how you're magic has been decaying the last few months."

"What?" Kye said, surprised. "How did..."

"All of your SFS units feed data to my computers. Nobody told me. I figured it out myself."

Kye sighed. "I can't hide it forever. I'm sure some of the others have noticed by now."

"That's the primary reason I made the SFS Mark 2." Ichiro said. "The Mark 2 is designed specifically for you. There is a hidden function in the Air Bands and SFS units. They absorb the magic of their user in small amounts at a constant rate. Ever since you first equipped an Air Band to now, your magic has been collected. The purpose was to give witches a longer lifespan once their magic finally decayed."

"A longer lifespan?"

"Yes." Ichiro continued. He picked up a small silver band from a shelf next to the big monitor. "This band contains your magic, absorbed from each Air Band unit you used. The SFS absorbed your magic as well, which I can extract and add to this. It'll only take a few seconds..."  
The band glowed once he touched it to Kye's SFS Mark 1, now lying on the table in the center of the room.

"Just wear this on your left wrist and you will notice a surge in magic power."

"Will it allow me to use any of the sixth stage auras? Or the Zen Aura?"

"Not the Zen Aura." Ichiro said. "But it will allow you to maintain the sixth stage for your normal duration once a day for a month." "Would I be able to use all of it at once if needed?"

"No. The band contains enough power for you to maintain the sixth stage for thirty hours straight, but the band itself cannot maintain that output for more than your usual one hour. Think of it as two batteries. The main battery has the total magic power storage, and the secondary battery has your usable magic power. The main battery will start refilling the secondary as soon as magic starts draining from it, but it takes a full day for a complete refill."

"I see." Kye said. "Oh, also... I don't know why, but I couldn't access the video feeds or communications with my SFS on the way here."

"There might have been something jamming it... though I can't think of anything with enough jamming strength to do that." Ichiro said. "Try accessing the video feeds or communications with the Mark 2. You should have no problems with it. I'll take a look at the Mark 1 in the meanti... what is going on?"

Kye had activated the video feed to Yoshika's SFS while Ichiro was talking. She was in the middle of battle. Neuroi were everywhere. Kye accessed the video feeds from the other SFS units. Both she and Ichiro knew what was going on immediately.

"They disabled my SFS's communications systems." Kye said. "There was never a neuroi inbound to Fuso... they just sent me away!" She started to run out of the door, intent on hurrying back to Europe, but Ichiro grabbed her arm first.

"Wait." Ichiro said. "Don't push yourself any more than you have to. Remember that the Magic Band will not take you back to your full strength, and that the Mark 2 is a prototype."

"You said the Mark 2 has the potential of going upwards of Mach 10, right?" Kye said. "I'm going to test out this prototype."

"Just don't overdo it." Ichiro said. Kye turned back to the old man and hugged him.

"I won't." She said. "I'll be back!"

Kye ran out of the workshop and took to the air, breaking the sound barrier the instant she left the ground. Using the Magic Band, she activated the Light Aura and took off as fast as possible. She climbed to a higher altitude, up to twenty thousand kilometers, to increase her speed even further.

Thankfully, in addition to her aura, she also had Shirley's speed magic copied and was able to add that to the mix as well. A small transparent screen next to her right eye displayed her speed in kilometers per hour.

"Thirteen thousand? That's over Mach 10... almost Mach 11, and it's still climbing! Shirley is gonna be jealous... heh."

* * *

Kye's speed topped out at Mach 12.5, allowing her to arrive at the battle in just under forty minutes, though she wasn't prepared for the scene she witnessed.

She saw a significant loss in the neuroi forces, though the battle had already ended. The witches were all lying on the ground below. Fortunately, the Air Bands and SFS units kept track of vitals, so Kye was able to remotely check them. None of them were dead. All of them were awake, though none could move.  
Kye also saw Xala and a few of her forces lying on the ground. She couldn't tell if they were awake or unconscious, but she could sense their energy was very low.

What really took her breath was the single orange neuroi floating in the sky above the witches. Next to the orange neuroi was a vertical black board, created out of neuroi material, and on that board was a tied up Yoshika. She was conscious, though barely so.

"What happened here?" Kye demanded as she flew up to the orange neuroi.

"Your forces lost, Kye Miyafuji." The neuroi said. "I have spared the lives of your comrades. While they ultimately lost, they did put up a valiant effort. They managed to destroy over two thousand of the forces I brought here... a little over half. For the efforts of only about sixty witches... that was quite a feat. The Prodigal Witch here, of course, did most of the work. She is responsible for about ten percent of the destroyed forces."

"What do you want?" Kye said. "Why have you spared them?"

"I'd like to introduce myself first... I am Supreme Command Xale." Xale said. "As for my purpose... I wanted to spare them until you arrived. I just had a feeling you would show up eventually."

"Until I arrived?" Kye said, gripped the hilt of her second sword, Jouten.

"You are very keen." Xale said. "With no explaining, you immediately understood me. Yes. I will kill them all in front of you. I sense you have considerable power yourself... but you are no stronger right now than this one here." He gestured at Yoshika.

"You are right." Kye said. "I'm not. I can sense your power, and it is strong. I would have a hard time with you even with the Zen Aura."

"Show me this Zen Aura. I would enjoy a good battle."

"I'm afraid I can't." Kye said. "Some of my comrades already know of this, and I'm sure more have noticed in the last few weeks... but my life as a witch is coming to an end. My magic has decayed too far to even activate a sixth stage aura on my own. Without this Magic Band created by my brother, Ichiro Miyafuji, I wouldn't even be able to fight at the sixth level."

"That's too bad." Xale said. "You know what? I'll go ahead and start executing your friends now. I'll start with the twins over there..."

He was pointing at Kaylie and Layla.

"No!" Kye yelled. 'If he kills them in their mortal bodies... they really will die.'

"Oh?" Xale said. "Did I pick a sensitive pair? After I kill them, I'll finish off Miss Prodigal Witch here."

Kye's demeanor suddenly changed. Her eyes grew cold and her presence dark. "You will not lay a hand on them, nor anyone else." Her words, if they were knives, would have pierced the lone orange neuroi.

"And if I do?"

Rainbow colored energy started flowing up into the air from the ground in several places. Kye aura faded, soon replaced a thin cover of rainbow energy.

"So you still do have some fight left in you?"

"I do not have the power to fight you as the mortal Kye Miyafuji." Kye said. "But if I dip into my immortal power, I can end this swiftly."

"N-no..." She heard Yami's voice over the intercom. "K-Kye... y-you can't..."

"I'm sorry, Yami." Kye said. "He's too powerful. If I don't do this, everyone will die."

"P-prin...cess..." Lily barely muttered.

"Thank you all for everything you've done." Kye said. "The fight is not over yet... you all must live another day to see our mission through to the end."

"Kye!" Yoshika said.

"Mom!" Rei said.

"Mom!" Kaylie and Layla both said.

Kye raised her sword to the air, and after a few seconds, the entire area was engulfed in the rainbow colored energy that had been floating in the area. The bodies of every witch, as well as the bodies of Xala and the other allied neuroi, all glowed in the rainbow energy and heal completely, though their magic power and energy were not restored. The rainbow energy freed Yoshika from her bonds, allowing her to slowly float down to the ground.

Kye's power soared to an unprecedented height.

"What is she doing?!" Yoshika yelled.

"She's using a forbidden spell only available to a God or Goddess that has performed a rebirth." Yami said. "It has no name, but its effect... It allows one to access their immortal power for a brief period while in the mortal world."

"But how is that bad?"

"After the immortal power fades, she will die." Yami said. "The immortal power overloads her mortal body... it cannot withstand the power. Her body is technically already dead now that she's activated the spell... but her immortal power will sustain it until it is gone."

"No!" Yoshika started to jump into the air, but Yami, standing next to her, grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Don't." Yami said. "It's too late. At this point, she is beyond saving."

"But..."

"I'm sorry, Yoshika, Rei, Kaylie, Layla, Yami... everyone. This is how it has to be." Kye said. "Yoshika, please don't give up. You alone can master Zen Serenity and bring this war to a peaceful ending. You must do this for the sake of the world, or Zalen will destroy it."

Xale, if he was able to make expressions, would have an expression of fear on his face. Kye turned her attention to him and removed her sword from her back, holding it in its sheath at her left hip, her hand in the drawing position.

"Her power right now is at the same level as you may remember from the Dream World. There is no mortal existence that can survive her attack." Yami said.

"Senkou Suto." Kye said. In a flashed, she drew her sword, closed the distance between her and her target, and destroyed him in a single slash. Xale's body was disintegrated to the point that not even the white neuroi fragments were left behind.

She sheathed her sword and floated down to the ground, standing in front of Yoshika and her three daughters. Kye gestured for a hug, and as the four of them gathered around her, her body slowly started fading away.

Most of the other witches were able to hide their feelings, but a few of them couldn't help themselves. The four that had surrounded Kye broke down in tears after her body completely vanished.

Eventually, the witches returned to base and the remaining neuroi forces retreated.

* * *

Techniques Introduced

**Unnamed Immortal Technique** - Kye (Only Possible for a God/Goddess that has performed a Rebirth.) This technique allows the caster to access their immortal power for a brief time. After the spell is complete, their mortal body fades away, having died from the immense power overload. Their spirit returns to their immortal body, usually kept in the Realm of Light or Realm of Gods.

**Senkou Suto** - Kye (This technique has been seen before, but deserves a mention.) - Senkou Suto, or Flash Strike, is one of the most powerful techniques of the Divine Light Style where the wielder draws their blade, moves forward, and attacks their opponent all in a single instant. Even as powerful as this technique is, it it not considered a "Pinnacle" technique as the immortal version of the Light Nova, the Holy Combo (Blades of the Heavens and Pillar of Light), and a few others are.

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Supreme Commander Xale** - Commander of the entire Neuroi Army, destroyed by Kye's immortal power. This is not mentioned in the chapter, but Xale was the "goal" that Zen mentioned in the last chapter. This will be mentioned later. (This character's name is pronounced like Gale with an X.)

* * *

**And there we are... the European Arc Finale. Kye's mortal body is gone, so she is forced back to her immortal body elseware and unable to participate in the mortal affairs. Everything is on Yoshika to master Zen Serenity, but how will she learn it?**

**Just a heads up, there might not be a chapter next week. I need a little time to iron out the details in the final arc (starting next chapter). Remember to check my profile for status updates on chapter releases! Thanks!  
**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	31. Final Arc: Chap 31: That Which You Need

**(A/N): This chapter has been rewritten! This edit was necessary to prevent a plot hole in a later chapter (yes I messed up, but it's fixed now!). If you have already read this chapter, you need only reread**** starting with the scene that begins with -"They have made contact with her."- and to the end.**

* * *

Strike Witches: Return

Final Arc

Chapter 31: That Which You Need

* * *

August 12th, 2012

A week had passed since the battle over Dunkirk in Gallia. No hostile actions from the neuroi have been reported across the entire world. It was as if the entire world was pacified.

Both the African and European neuroi backed off. Likewise, the Allied Forces also took a break. They needed it for a funeral.

Most military funerals weren't talked about too much. Witches and soldiers that lost their lives would be returned to their home country, if possible, and given a funeral. Their friends, family, comrades, and commanding officers usually made up the attendees, and that's how most of them liked it. They weren't crowded.

However, when a funeral is held for one of the biggest names in history, the worldwide media is sent in an uproar. The witches risk their lives every time they enter battle. Despite their increased power since 1945, they still have difficulty in battle with the ever-advancing neuroi. They don't think twice about the possibility of death.

Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji certainly didn't. The funeral was held in Yokosuka.

* * *

Rei hadn't spoken a word since that day. Kaylie and Layla weren't far from silence, either, though they did speak somewhat. The Strike Witches, even Mio and Minna, were having trouble hiding their feelings. None of them were coping well with the death of Kye Miyafuji, especially those with a shared past.

Only a month after the battle in Venezia, Kye showed up and reformed the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. She held the authority as the Supreme Commander of all Joint Fighter Wings. The 501st, along with Kye as their guest, defeated the hive in Fuso, Egypt, Orussia, then the Mother Hive southwest of Fuso. The world was brought to peace at the end of that campaign, Operation Worldwide Liberation.

Although she was never a member of any Joint Fighter Wing, she still received the prestigious award, Pendant of the Strike Witches, alongside the 501st, and was recognized by 501st Commander Minna Dietlinde Wilcke as a formal member. Even though she was a member of the 501st, and Minna was the 501st Commander, Kye still held authority as the Supreme Commander of all the wings.

Seven years passed before the thirteen Strike Witches, comprised of Minna, Mio, Trude, Erica, Shirley, Lucchini, Sanya, Eila, Lynne, Perrine, Yoshika, Rei, and Kye, were transported through time by the Queen of the Gods, Xera, not to defend humanity from the once again hostile neuroi, but to pacify both sides and bring a peaceful ending. Only a handful of people outside the 501st knew about the true goal.

Although they were tasked with finding a peaceful ending, most of the witches had thrown that possibility out. Once Kye Miyafuji sacrificed her life to defeat the

Neuroi Supreme Commander Xale, the other witches virtually discarded any intentions of a peaceful ending. Revenge and conquest were all that filled their minds.

They had forgotten why they needed to find a peaceful ending in the first place. One witch, Yoshika Miyafuji, remembered.

King of the Gods, Zalen, had grown disappointed in the human race in recent years. There were plenty of good people still around, but they were far outnumbered by criminals and those with evil hearts. He had given an ultimatum... prove that humanity deserves to survive, or prove that they deserve demise.  
Yoshika wanted nothing more than to protect everyone, including the neuroi. Her motives weren't to prove humanity is still capable of justice, but of a genuine care for helping people.

* * *

In the evening following the funeral, Yoshika flew out to the old shrine in the mountains. Aside from a layer of dust, it was untouched since her last visit.

"Jouten." Yoshika said softly as she drew the mortal Jouten from its sheath.

"Yes, Master Yoshika?" The sword responded.

"Can you connect to the immortal Jouten held by Kye?"

"Now that Master Kye's immortal self has died and her soul has returned to her immortal body, the immortal Jouten has returned to her immortal body as well. I can no longer contact that Jouten." The sword explained.

"I see." Yoshika had a sad look on her face. She had known for a while that the mortal Kye Miyafuji was a rebirth of the immortal Princess Kye Akari, but she did not know that the immortal Princess Kye Akari and the Goddess of Light Kye Akari were one in the same.

Even though Yoshika knew Kye was alive and well as a god, she still missed her.

"Perhaps, there is something else I can do for you, Master Yoshika." Jouten said, gaining Yoshika's attention.

"Huh?"

"You should remember your ancestor of five thousand years that you revived for a short while, do you not?"

"Yes."

"You have another ancestor of ten thousand years."

"Yuko Miyafuji." Yoshika said.

"Yes."

"What about her, though?"

Before Jouten could answer, the figure of a girl appeared in front of Yoshika. The girl was only a ghost, but she carried an intimidating presence.

"Hello, Yoshika." The girl said. "I am Yuko Miyafuji." She bared a slight resemblance to Yoshika, though her hair was dark red, instead of brown, and she was roughly half a head taller. She was dressed in a battle kimono similar to Kye's, but one of pure white.

"Y-Yuko?" Yoshika stuttered.

"One moment." Yuko said. She turned her head to her left and glared her eyes, as if looking at something that wasn't there. "Yoshi, I can sense you!" She reached out and acted as if she was thumping somebody's head, and actually made contact with somebody, forcing them to appear.

"Did you have to thump me?" The other girl said as she appeared.

"Ancestor!" Yoshika recognized the new girl. She was her five thousand year old ancestor, Yoshika "Yusu" Miyafuji.

"It's your fault, Yoshi. You didn't appear quick enough." Yuko said, putting on a stubborn front.

"Yeah, yeah. And you!" The ancestor turned her attention to Yoshika. "I told you not to call me ancestor last time!"

"I'm sorry!" Yoshika said immediately. "But why are you here?"

"Because you need us." Yoshi said.

* * *

"They have made contact with her." A man said. In front of him was a throne occupied by a woman in a black cloak. A black and purple battle kimono was only slightly visible underneath from the front. She was leaning to one side, propping herself up with her arm on the right. Her face was concealed, but some of her blonde hair hung down from her hood.

"I know. I'm watching them on the screen. Now go away." Irritation could be heard in her voice.

"Moody, are we?" The man wore a black cloak as well with a black Martial Arts Gi underneath. His hood was hanging down on his back, revealing his face.

"You know damn well that I'm pissed off."

"Don't be angry at your brother, Kye." Another woman said. Unlike Kye, and Zen, this woman was not wearing a cloak, though she did have a solid black battle kimono.

"You're not in the clear either, Xera." Kye said coldly.

"You're going to have to get off that throne and stop staring at the monitor eventually." Zen said.

"Why would I? There's nothing better to do. It's not like I can go back to Earth and visit them."

"You could..."

"I should have chosen my words better." Kye sighed. "I know I CAN go back whenever I want. Gods aren't bound by the same rule as immortals, after all. We can go to the mortal world for a visit without sealing our power, and even if we chose to seal our power and take on a mortal body, we can do so quickly."

"Indeed." Zen said. "But you are actually following the rules now?"

"It's not like I have a choice with our high and mighty dumbass grandfather."

"Kye! Watch your mouth!" Xera said. "You can't speak of King Zalen like that."

"What's he gonna do about it? Kill me?" Kye retorted. "If he can't handle a little name calling, he doesn't need to be the King of the Gods."

"Well played, Kye." Zalen's ominous thundering voice called as his heavily cloaked figure appeared in the throne room. "No, your name calling is meaningless to me."

"And what do YOU want?" Kye said. "I'm pissed off enough as it is. I don't care if you are the King of the Gods, you're in my throne room and all of you are annoying. Go away or be quiet. I'm listening to them." She pointed at the monitor. On it were Yoshika, Yuko, and the five thousand year old Yoshika, or Yoshi as Yuko was calling her.

* * *

"Because I need you?" Yoshika asked.

"You want to end the war with a peaceful ending, right?" Yuko said. "We've been watching you from the other side, so we know very well."

"Yes! I want to end this war and save as many as I can. But I don't know how to do that without Kye."

"She was supposed to teach you the Zen Serenity." Yoshi said. "Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"The problem is she can't do that now." Yuko said. "I will go ahead and clear up a few things about the Zen Serenity before we discuss how to learn it. What do you know of it?"

"Well... she said it takes multiple witches and that it will calm anyone hit by it." Yoshika said.

"Not entirely true." Yuko said. "It does not require multiple witches, and does much more than simply pacifying it's targets. She probably said that due to her incomplete knowledge of it while she was mortal. Despite her having unlocked all of her immortal memories, she did not unlock her godly memories before her death. At the time, she didn't know the complete truth behind Zen Serenity, which is probably why you and she never had any one on one time on it. She probably wanted to iron out all the kinks before trying to teach it to you."

Yoshika remained quiet as Yuko and Yoshi explained.

"Both of us learned Zen Serenity." Yoshi said. She held her hand out and formed a cloud of rainbow energy. Yuko did the same. "This is True Zen Magic."

"It is not a single type of magic." Yuko continued. "It is everything in one. This is what Zen itself really is. The Zen Aura you know of that Kye used as a mortal, the seventh stage aura, is known as Lesser Zen. It takes Light, Dark, and Neutral magic and combines them into one. Zen is the state of one. True Zen is much more than just Light, Dark or Neutral magic, however. True Zen is every magic, every energy, every conceptual power in existence... time, space, creation, destruction, life, death... the list goes on."

"The Zen Serenity is a spell that utilizes True Zen Magic." Yoshi said. "You may know that Liliana Lucchini is the rebirth of the immortal Liliana Venturi from the Realm of Light. She also has a limited knowledge of Zen Serenity. She stated to Kye before her death that Zen Serenity is a high-level spell, even among the Realm of Light. This is true, but she did not know the gravity of how high it actually is."

"After recovering the memory of her immortal self, your cousin, Rei Miyafuji, or as she is known as her immortal self, Rei Akari, had the most knowledge of the spell out of all of you. She is the only one that knew that it requires True Zen Magic." Yuko continued. "Kye's mortal self had also figured that out by then, but did not know much more."

"Like us, you are one of the few who is capable of True Zen Magic." Yoshi said.

"Me?" Yoshika asked. "Who all can do it?"

"Only us." Yuko said. "It is rumored that there is a god capable of it, but it's just a rumor."

"Well, you two know it. How do I learn it?" Yoshika asked.

"You don't." Yoshi said. "It is not something that can be learned or taught. There are no instructions or methods to it."

"Then how..."

"You feel it." Yuko said. "Many years ago during your stay in Romagna during your battle against the neuroi of Venezia, Mio Sakamoto tried to master a technique then known as the True Reppuzan. You performed that technique. It was later revealed that the technique you performed was the Zen Reppuzan."

"That's right. We mistook the Full Power Reppuzan for the True Reppuzan, which was actually the Zen Reppuzan, but Kye was able to master that."

"She did, and she performed it." Yuko said. "There was a difference between her Zen Reppuzan and yours, however. Her Zen Reppuzan was empowered by Lesser Zen Magic, whereas yours was empowered by True Zen Magic."

"The technique I used to defeat the neuroi in my time was the same as yours." Yoshi said. "I later learned of that from Yuko in the afterlife."

"Right." Yuko said. "True Zen Magic first responded to all three of us when we needed it most. Both Yoshi and I later mastered it, just as you must."

"Remember." Yoshi said. "You have to feel it. Understand it. Once it answers your call, so will come the knowledge of Zen Serenity."

"We have to go now." Yuko said. She held up her arm, showing that her already transparent body was fading. Yoshi's was doing the same.

"Wait! What does Zen Serenity do?" Yoshika asked as her two ancestors were fading away.

"We cannot tell you." Yuko said. "Just know that if you are able to learn it, you will forever change the world!"

"Change the world?" Yoshika repeated quietly just after the other two completely faded.

* * *

"Well said, girls." Kye said.

"Now that they are done, I have a question for you." Zalen said. "What will you do now?"

"There's nothing I can do." Kye said. "I died as a mortal. I CAN go back to Earth anytime I want, but that would be breaking the rules and would give you an excuse to accelerate your plans."

"Smart." Zalen said. "What will you do if they lose?"

"Yoshika will not let them lose." Kye said. "She will end it the right way."

"You place a lot of faith in one human."

"No. I place a lot of faith in one witch. A witch with an unmatched genuine care for others. She will succeed and bring the humanity versus neuroi conflict to a close once and for all."

"Can she do it in time, though?" Zalen said. "The deadline is near."

Kye didn't answer at first. She stared at Zalen intensely for a moment before finally giving her answer. "Yes."

Zalen did not respond further, but merely vanished.

"So Kye..." Zen said. "Did you enjoy your funeral?" He somehow managed to keep a straight face on while waiting for her answered.

Kye only responded by flicking a bean sized ball of magic at Zen, which upon contact teleported him out of the throne room. "Turd."

* * *

**Characters Introduced**

**Yuko Miyafuji** - "Created" Daughter of Kaylie Akari and Layla Akari. She was taken to Earth by Kye Akari where she was given the name "Miyafuji". She became the first witch and started the Miyafuji family line. She is Yoshika's ancestor of ten thousand years and is one of the very few capable of controlling True Zen Energy.

**Yoshika Miyafuji** (Ancestor) - Also known as "Yusu" or "Yoshi" for short. She was born during the Ancient Neuroi War five thousand years ago. She is Yoshika's ancestor of five thousand years and is one of the very few capable of controlling True Zen Energy.

**Zalen, King of the Gods** (Formal) - He has Elder God status. King Zalen is the absolute leader of the gods. He has no last name. He possesses the power of Life and Death.

**Xera, Queen of the Gods** (Formal) - She has Full God status. Despite holding the title "Queen of the Gods", Xera is the daughter of Zalen, not his partner. The two carry only a father/daughter relationship, though they only refer to each other by their names. She has no last name. She possesses the power of Life and Death.

**Kye Akari, Goddess of Light** (Formal) - She has Full God status. Her technical title is Goddess of Light Energy. Although she is the Goddess of Light, she is very well versed in Neutral Energy and Dark Energy as well. She is the only god capable of Zen Energy. She is capable of True Zen Energy, but cannot consciously control it. The only time she has been able to use it was as a mortal (Kye Miyafuji) when she tapped into her immortal power to defeat Supreme Commander Xale in the battle over Dunkirk.

**Zen Akari, God of Darkness** (Formal) - He has Full God status. His technical title is "God of Dark Energy", though he prefers "God of Darkness." He is not evil, as his title would suggest, but he can be mischievous. He is the younger brother of Kye Akari, by one year. He has a daughter and a son. Neither are gods, but they are immortal.

**Yami Akari, Goddess of Energy** (Formal) - She has Full God status. Her technical title is "Goddess of Neutral Energy", though she prefers "Goddess of Energy". She is Kye's younger sister, by two years. She has a daughter, Yuko Akari, though her daughter is a standard immortal, not a god.

**Note about the gods**: While the gods can do whatever they want, there are rules they must follow set forth by King Zalen. The gods must show restraint and self control in situations they find to be undesirable.

* * *

**And there we have it! The first chapter of the 5 chapter Final Arc. The gods can basically do whatever they want, but there are still rules. While immortals cannot interact with mortals without sealing their power, the gods can. Kye has complete faith in Yoshika that she will succeed in ending the war.  
**

**And if anyone is wondering, the throne Kye was lazily sitting on was not the throne of the Light Kingdom in the Realm of Light, but her own throne in the God's Realm.**

**Be sure to check my profile for status updates on estimated chapter releases! Ideally, Chapter 32 will be released next week, but may be delayed until the week after. **

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	32. Chapter 32: I Cannot

Strike Witches: Return

Final Arc

Chapter 32: I Cannot

August 15th, 2012

* * *

Three days after the funeral for Kye Miyafuji was held, the witches returned to Britannia, to their base at Dover. The neuroi still hadn't made any movements since that day.

Sometime after night had fallen after returning to Britannia, Minna, Mio, Trude, Bell, Yoshika, Yami, and Rei all gathered in Minna's office. Kye had left a special letter for Minna with instructions to be opened after her funeral.

It was titled "Death Contingency of Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji" and was addressed to Brigadier General Minna Dietlinde-Wilcke. Minna opened the letter and started reading.

"'If you are reading this, I am no longer alive. I have set in place with the Allied Forces for two things to happen in the event of my death. The first is that the mantle of Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces Joint Fighter Wings be passed to 501st Commander Minna Dietlinde-Wilcke. As the Supreme Commander, you have full command over every wing, authority to disband wings other than the 501st, and authority to form wings. In addition to these new powers, you have several other powers which you already should be aware of, though if you need refreshing you need only consult the Joint Fighter Wing Manual.'"

"So you are the new Supreme Commander." Mio said.

"It seems so." Minna said. "There is more. 'In addition to Supreme Commander status, you are also hereby promoted to Lieutenant General.'"

"A promotion, too?"

"That's not all." Minna said. "Three more are getting promotions, too. Mio Sakamoto will be promoted to Major General. Gertrude Barkhorn will be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Rei Miyafuji will be promoted to First Lieutenant."

"I can understand Rei's promotion more than mine." Mio said. "So what now? Are we going to...? They were interrupted by a certain familiar humanoid neuroi barging in the door. It was Xala."

"Everyone! I'm sorry for the sudden appearance, but I have urgent news!" Xala said. Although her face was unable to show emotion, being the same as all humanoid neuroi, she was very distressed.

"Xala?" Yoshika said. "What's...? "I am sorry, but you must listen, not speak." Xala said. "I have a contact within the enemy neuroi forces. The current leaders are more than unhappy with Commander Xale's death. They are pulling all of their forces from across the world to the hive in Karlsland and intend to attack you with a single massive force."

The color drained from everyone's faces. Even Mio and Minna were horrified by Xala's claim.

"My forces will assist you, of course." Xala said.

Minna could barely speak, but managed somehow. "Even with your forces... we would have to battle several thousand neuroi at once. Even with the addition of the Dark Witches as a new Joint Fighter Wing, we just don't have the numbers."

"By the count last month, there are just shy of fifty thousand witches and wizards in the military." Mio said.

"The neuroi force will be comprised of at least twenty thousand." Xala said. "Five thousand are at Class Seven or greater."

"Over ninety percent of the witch force is unable to fight at that at that level." Mio said.

"I hate to say it, but pretty much all of the high caliber witches and wizards are in the Joint Fighter Wings." Minna said. "There's thirteen in the 501st, twenty seven in the 511th, ten in the 512th, eleven in the 513th, nine in the 514th, nine in the 515th, and nineteen in the 516th. If we include Yami, Lily, Shadow, and Kamiko, that adds four high level witches."

"That's one hundred and two witches able to fight at Class Seven or higher." Mio said. "Xala, how many do you have with that capability?"

"Of my forces, fifty are at that level or higher."

"So a total of one hundred and fifty two versus about five thousand." Minna said.

"There's no way." Bell said. "That's just too many!"

"We may not have a choice." Minna said.

"Xala, do you have a time frame for this attack?" Yami asked.

"They plan to attack in two weeks."

"That's not a lot of time." Mio said.

"Can this base have room for one hundred and two witches, Minna?" Yami asked.

"Yes." Minna said. "We have a lot of unused rooms."

"Then you should call the other Joint Fighter Wings here."

"I was thinking that, too."

"So that's the plan then?" Mio asked. "Prepare for one big battle?"

Minna stood up from her desk. "That's right. We will either wipe out the enemy neuroi, or they will wipe us out."

Yoshika looked down with a look of disappointment about her face.

"Lieutenant Yoshika Miyafuji, do you disapprove of this plan?" Minna asked.

"Eh?" She mumbled looking up, unsure whether or not to argue.

"I asked if you disapprove of this plan." Minna said sternly.

"I don't know." She said quietly.

"We don't have a choice, Yoshika." Mio said.

Yoshika couldn't bring herself to openly argue against either of them.

Rei didn't have the same problem. "There's always a choice."

"How is there another choice?" Trude asked bluntly. "The neuroi are coming, like it or not. They intend to destroy us. I'm not going to sit back and let them."

"Have you all forgotten?" Yoshika asked.

"Forgotten what, exactly?" Minna said.

Yoshika looked down again with more disappointment. "Nevermind." She turned and left the room without another word.

"Yoshika!" Rei hollered as she ran out after her.

"There's no helping it." Minna said.

'Yoshika is probably the only mortal that still is fighting for the right reason.' Yami thought to herself. 'Kye was right. She IS something else.'

Minna and the others continued their discussion regardless of Yoshika and Rei being present.

* * *

Yoshika ran outside to the edge of the runway. Rei wasn't far behind and Lynne was already out there waiting on her.

"Lynne?" Yoshika sat down next to her, Rei soon to follow.

"I had a feeling you would come out here eventually." Lynne said. She spoke in a soft voice that felt warm and welcome to Yoshika and Rei.

"This was our favorite spot to sit when we first met." Yoshika said. "It's hard to believe how long it's been since then."

"It really has." Lynne glanced over to Yoshika, then to Rei, then back out to the sea. "We've all grown up so much since then."

The three sat together quietly for a while, dangling their legs off the edge. Not much of the moon was visible, but the skies were clear. The sea glowed.

"Hey, Lynne."

"Yes, Yoshika?"

"Xala gave us news about the neuroi."

Rei stiffened as Yoshika spoke.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Yoshika said. "The entire neuroi force is going to attack in two weeks."

"The entire force?"

"There's supposed to be twenty thousand of them, and five thousand at Class Seven or better. We only have about one hundred witches that can handle that." Yoshika paused for a moment and sighed. "Commander Minna and the others plan to fight them head on with the intent of destroying them."

"If we can do that, we'll win." Lynne said.

"Maybe." Yoshika said. "Maybe not."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone has forgotten... forgotten what will happen if we destroy the neuroi."

Lynne knew what Yoshika was getting at. "You mean what Kye said?"

"Yeah."

"Yoshika, you're reason for fighting is to save not only humanity, but the neuroi as well, right?" Rei asked.

"Yeah."

"What about you, Lynne?"

"I just want to protect people." Lynne said.

"What about you?" Yoshika asked.

"Pretty much the same." Rei said. "But there's two people that I care about more than anyone else."

"Who's that?" Lynne asked.

"Kaylie and Layla." Rei said. "They mean a lot to me."

"But they aren't your granddaughters." Yoshika said. "We don't know who they are."

"I do. I haven't for a little while now." Rei leaned back, propping herself up with her arms and gazing at the crescent moon. "You know how my mom had two daughters in the Realm of Light, named Kaylie and Layla, and how they created Yuko Miyafuji."

"They were taken by the King of the Gods, weren't they?" Yoshika asked.

"Yes." Rei said. "They were. He sentenced them to mortal imprisonment. Their immortal powers were stripped and their immortality sealed. They walk the earth as mortals that never age."

"If they don't age, then they don't grow old and die, right?" Lynne said.

"Right, but that's not the problem." Rei said. "Mortals can die and go to the next world. Most would call it Heaven, Nirvana, or whatever. Its name isn't important, but that's where you go when you die."

"Right." Yoshika said.

"Immortals are a little different." Rei said. "Even while an immortal is living as a mortal here in the mortal world, an immortal is still an immortal. Their mortal body can die, but their spirit returns to their immortal body instead of going to the afterlife. When an immortal is sentence to mortal imprisonment, they no longer retain their immortal traits. If they die, it's over. They don't have an immortal body to return to, and they can't go to the afterlife."

"What happens to them?" Yoshika asked.

"They just cease to exist." Rei said. "Poof, gone, nothing."

"Are you saying that the Kaylie and Layla that are here are...? "The Goddess of Light, Kye Akari, had three daughters in the Realm of Light, all immortal." Rei said. "Kaylie and Layla are the younger twin sisters. The oldest of the three is my immortal self, Rei Akari."

"You?"

"I am a rebirth, just like my mother was, just like Liliana is, and just like my daughter Kamiko is." Rei said. "I unlocked my memories when I had my near death experience in Liberion."

Yoshika and Lynne were shocked at the news.

"Kaylie and Layla are my younger sisters, locked away as mortals here in the mortal world." Rei said. "That's why mom went as far as she did in the last battle. Xale was going to kill Kaylie and Layla, and if that happened... I don't even want to imagine it. It's different than a mortal losing their child. That child still exists in the next world, at least, and they will be reunited someday."

"But those two would simply be gone." Yoshika said.

"I can't stand the thought." Rei said as she stood up. "Now that you know this, Yoshika, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"What will you do, knowing the imminent battle is coming?" Rei said.

"I... I don't know."

"You are the only one that can save everyone." Rei said. "If you can end this war with peace, I will have more time to figure out how to break my little sister's bonds."

"If the witches win the battle, we lose the war." Yoshika said. "If the witches lose the battle, we lose the war."

"If we can make both sides see the light, we might just have a chance." Rei said. "I don't know what to do, but I will support you in whatever you do. AuntYami, Lily, Shadow, and Yuko will all support you as well. None of them want to see this end badly, especially for Kaylie and Layla."

"All of the immortals?" Yoshika said.

"The immortals are all allied with the Light Kingdom first and the Earth's forces second. Kaylie and Layla are in genuine danger if this ends badly."

"I see. I need some time to think. I want to figure out what we can do about it." Yoshika stood up, too, and pulled Rei into a hug. "Please don't do what Kye did. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Rei could only smile in response. "Okay, Yoshika." She gestured at Lynne to join in.

"That goes for both of you." Lynne said as she joined the hug.

* * *

Yoshika was on kitchen duty the next morning. She prepared a typical breakfast befitting of Fuso, including Steamed Rice and Miso Soup with a side of Natto and Tamagoyaki, or rolled omelet. She had help with the preparations, of course, as she had to feed both the 501st and the 511th. Lynne, Rei, Kamiko, and Yami couldn't let her do it alone.

"Psst, you should add this!" Yami said, pulling a bottle of spice from her pocket with a big grin on her face. "It'll make the Miso Soup better."

"What is it?" Yoshika asked, unsure if she wanted to take the bottle.

"Heehee... Can't tell ya!" Yami said in a singsong tone before reverting to her normal tone. "It's a special ingredient. I actually have never named it, but Kye loves it."

"No fair." Rei pouted. "You never let me use that!"

"That's 'cause you never asked, squirt."

"Squirt?! I'm as tall as you!"

"Uh, huh. I remember a certain little squirt about this high, Yami held her hand lower to the floor at about halfway between her knee and hip, "always wanting to play with Aunt Yami."

Rei's face went red.

Lynne whispered to Yoshika, "It's nice isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Yami overheard them. "Makin' fun of us, eh?"

Yoshika immediately held her hands up as if to protect her said. "No no no no!"

Yami merely had a smile on her face. "When we were kids growing up in the Light Kingdom, Kye, Zen, Lily, Shadow, and I would all take turns cooking. Zen was horrible at it. Kye and Shadow were good, but they couldn't hold a candle to me or Lily."

"What type of food did you prepare?" Lynne asked.

"All kinds." Yami said. "The Light Kingdom was more advanced ten thousand years ago than the human race here on earth is now. That being said, we are all human. Though many of us are immortal, the vast majority of our people are just normal people. A lot of them have migrated to earth and brought much knowledge with them, the most prominent being our cuisines. A lot of dishes from the various countries here originate from the Light Kingdom."

"That's right." Lily said from the doorway. "Some of my descendants moved to earth about fifteen hundred years ago and settled in Romagna. They intermingled with the Lucchini family, and soon they became one. Francesca knows a dish that I created that was passed down through my descendants, all the way to the ones that migrated to earth and on through the Lucchini family."

"You know..." Yami said. "I bet a dish or two you know might be passed down from your Light Kingdom ancestors."

"Me?" Lynne said. "I have Light Kingdom ancestors?"

"Every witch or wizard does." Yami said. "Magic runs in your blood, after all, though it can skip generations."

Lynne started trying to imagine which dishes she knew might have older origins.

"So how is it coming along?" Lily asked.

"We should be done soon." Yoshika said. "Just need to add the finishing touches."

"Sounds great. I look forward to the cooking of the legendary Yoshika!" Lily sang as she walked out, leaving a slightly red-faced Yoshika amongst her helpers.

* * *

Throughout the rest of the morning and the early afternoon, Yoshika spent time with the other Strike Witches. She made sure to do at least something with each of Trude, Erica, Shirley, Lucchini, Sanya, Eila, Perrine, and Lynne, all of them. She even talked with Minna briefly. She mostly reminisced about their past together with each of them.

In the middle of the afternoon, the time came for a meeting. The witches gathered in the auditorium, since the briefing room wasn't big enough to house everyone.

Minna, with Xala's help, explained the imminent battle to take place in another thirteen days.

Yami, Yuko, Lily, Shadow, and Kamiko were sitting on the left side of the stage against the wall, all of their eyes on Yoshika. Rei sat next to Yoshika.

"We will fight and we will win." Minna said as she finished her explanation. Surprisingly, nobody had any questions, though there were muffled murmurs throughout the crowd.

Everything went quiet, however, when Yoshika stood up. She made her way to the stage and stood in front of Minna and Mio.

"You have something to say Lieutenant?" Minna asked.

"No." Yoshika said. "I have something to give to you." Her right hand was closed, holding something. Rei knew immediately what she was doing. She jumped up and ran to the stage as well.

"What is it?" Minna asked.

"I'm sorry." Yoshika said. She held her hand out and dropped her Strike Witches Pendant into Minna's hand.

"Wha... what is the meaning of this?" Minna wasn't one to stutter, but this took even her by surprise.

"It's goodbye." Yoshika said. She walked over to Yami and the others, who knew what she wanted.

Rei left her own Strike Witches Pendant behind and joined Yoshika. Kaylie and Layla ran over after them. Ren joined them as well. Yusu wasn't sure what was going on, but she trusted Yoshika and joined in.

Yoshika turned back to the others. "I'm sorry everyone, but I won't be a part of this. I will find a way to end this war without losing either side. Please remember why we must do that!"

"Stop this now!" Mio yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"

Yoshika had a tear in her eye as she looked Mio in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Mio. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Yoshika..." Mio barely managed to mutter.

In the blink of an eye, Yoshika and the few others that had joined her vanished. It took the combined efforts of Yami, Yuko, Lily, and Shadow to teleport them all away.

* * *

They appeared outside of the base, high in the sky. Together, Yoshika, Yami, Yuko, Lily, Shadow, Rei, Kamiko, Yusu, Kaylie, and Layla all started to fly toward the south, but they had nowhere to go.

"Glad to have you aboard, Ren." Yuko said.

"Of course." Ren said. "I couldn't just stand back and do nothing."

"So are you gonna introduce yourself to Yoshika?" Rei asked. "She's the only one that doesn't know your real identity."

"I remember her." Yoshika said. "She's the Dark Witch Ren."

"My full name is Ren Akari." Ren said. "Zen Akari is my father."

Yoshika wasn't sure what to think of it, but she didn't think about it for long. Instead, she turned to Yusu. "You didn't have to come."

"I did." Yusu said. "Whatever you are doing, I trust you more than any of them. I want to help."

Yoshika could only smile at her great granddaughter. "Of course!"

"Might as well stop here." Yami said. "We don't really have anywhere to go."

"We have to leave here at least." Yoshika said.

"There's only one choice, really." Yami said. Surprising everyone, even Lily and Shadow, Yami opened a portal to the Realm of Light. "Let's go."

* * *

**List of Joint Fighter Wings**

The Original Nine

501st - The Strike Witches  
502nd - The Brave Witches  
503nd - The Typhoon Witches  
504th - The Ardor Witches  
505th - The Mirage Witches  
506th - The Noble Witches  
507th - The Silent Witches  
508th - The Mighty Witches  
31st - The Storm Witches (Joint Fighter Squadron, not Wing, but whatever.)

The Second Generation

509th - The Staunch Witches (501st)  
510th - The Bold Witches (Mixed JFW)

The Third Generation

511th - The Vast Witches (501st)  
-511th Fuso Sector -511th Liberion Sector -511th European Sector 512th - The Strong Witches (508th)  
513th - The Valliant Witches (502nd, 506th)  
514th - The Gale Witches (31st)  
515th - The Ardent Witches (504th)  
516th - The Dark Witches

* * *

**Immortals in the Mortal World**

Rebirths

Kye Miyafuji (Kye Akari) - Deceased / returned to Immortal Body  
Rei Miyafuji (Rei Akari)  
Kamiko Miyafuji (Kamiko Akari)  
Liliana Lucchini (Liliana Venturi)

Immortals who have sealed their power

Yami Akari  
Zen Akari - Deceased / returned to Immortal Body  
Yuko Akari  
Ren Akari  
Shadow

Mortal Imprisonment

Kaylie Akari (Posed as Kaylie Miyafuji)  
Layla Akari (Posed as Layla Miyafuji)

Note: Rebirths and Sealed Immortals who die simply return to their immortal bodies and are unable to go back to earth as a mortal for a period of time.  
Note2: Immortals with Mortal Imprisonment are in their original bodies, but do not retain their immortal power or immortality. If they die, they cease to exist.

* * *

**The stage is set. Thirteen days until "Judgment Day" or whatever you wanna call it. Yoshika and a few other witches have left the main group and seek to end the war peacefully. Will humanity and the neuroi have a bloody ending, or will Yoshika manage to save them from King Zalen's wrath?  
**

**Just as a refresher, Dark Witch Ren appeared in one of the earlier chapters. It wasn't revealed until now, but she is an immortal like Yami who has sealed her power to go to the mortal world. See the above section for a complete list of immortals who have taken on a life as a mortal.**

**On a sidenote, I apologize for this chapter taking a little longer than expected! I had some trouble writing it. Sometimes even if you know the plan, executing it is not always easy.**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	33. Chapter 33: The Underground

Strike Witches: Return

Final Arc

Chapter 33: The Underground

* * *

August 15th, 2012

Yoshika and the others appeared on top of a tall tower after traveling through Yami's portal. Yoshika and Yusu looked around. Both had seen the Light Kingdom in the Dream World before, but it was a lot different in reality.

"It's so different!" Yoshika said. "Everything is bigger and..."

"Better?" Yami finished her sentence for her. "The version of this place you know is from the Dream World. That version is what this place was like ten thousand years ago. Naturally it's bigger and more extravagant now."

The buildings were taller, the decorations were more ornate, and the city walls that once were visible from the middle of the city were now nowhere to be seen. There was a certain lack of vehicles, however, as most of the people simply teleported where they needed to go.

"Kaylie, I don't like this." Layla muttered to her sister's ear. "Are we allowed to be here?"

"I don't think so." Kaylie said. "Aunt Yami, you have to send us back, at least me and Kaylie. We're not exactly supposed to be here."

"We could get in huge trouble if we're caught." Layla said.

"You've already been caught." A familiar voice called to them. "But there's nothing to worry about. This place is my jurisdiction."

Kye appeared in front of everyone out of thin air.

"Kye?!" Yoshika said. "You're alive?"

"If you mean Kye Miyafuji, then no." She said. "My mortal life has ended."

"But you're here in front of us."

"I am immortal, you know." Kye said. "But that's not important. I would ask what you are all doing here, but I've been watching the whole time. I'm kind of surprised at what you did."

"I... I had no choice." Yoshika said. "I had to..."

"No need for an explanation." Kye said. "I understand. It's a shame the others have lost sight of the true goal. You can change that, though. If you need a place to stay in the meantime, go to the castle. All of you are in mortal bodies right now, so it would be unsafe for you to wonder around in public here."

"Why's that?" Yoshika asked.

"Well... simply put..." Kye said. "The people of this world have powers far beyond that of the mortals. For example... Lily, how much of your power had to be suppressed to go to the mortal world?"

"Over ninety nine percent." Lily said. "The power difference is significant. It is very unsafe for any of us to be here without some sort of protection."

"Which I can provide while you are here." Kye said. "Come on... let's go." Kye raise a finger and instantly teleported everyone into the castle gardens.

"Whoa..." Yusu said, feeling a bit dizzy. "I don't think I'll ever get used to teleportation."

"As you can see, these are the gardens." Kye said. "Yami will know where everything is. I advise you don't stay here for long, even if you do stay in the castle."

"I agree." Yami said. "I just wanted to take them somewhere safe temporarily while we decide what we're going to do. I don't really know what we can do though."

"If you intend to train, the best thing to do is to go to the Underground." Kye said. "I can take you there if you'd like."

"I didn't even think about that place." Yami said.

"And also, I can send you all back to the mortal world whenever you get ready." Kye said. "I can send you pretty much wherever you like, but once you cross the portal, that's as far as I can help you."

"Yeah." Yami had stress in her voice. "It's going to be hard to stop two strong sides from fighting."

Kye grew a mischievous grin and teleported being Yami. "You're too tense, little sister." She began to tickle Yami's sides, causing the white haired girl to collapse to her knees.

"N-no fair, Kye." Yami said, seemingly drained of her energy.

"Hehe." Kye said with a self-amused grin on her face. She helped Yami back to her feet. "You're thinking too much. Come on, what happened to your usual cheery self? The only thing you can really do is train. Only Yoshika can do much else, and that can't be taught."

"Yeah, I have to learn it myself according to my ancestors." Yoshika said.

"Did you meet Yuko?" Layla asked. "What was she like?"

"She was a nice girl." Yoshika said. "I wish I could have talked to her longer."

"I see." Layla said. "I'm glad."

"Hey, mom?" Kaylie said, unsure if she should ask the question on her mind.

"Yes?" Kye said.

Kaylie held out her left arm, revealing a black band in addition to the air band. "Are you able to remove it?"

"I'm afraid not." Kye looked somewhat depressed at her own answer. "I've been working on breaking those bindings, but Zalen put them there, so they are proving hard to break."

"I see." Kaylie said.

Kye pulled both Kaylie and Layla into a huge and spoke seriously, but warmly. "Don't you two worry. I'll get those things off. I'm not gonna let you get erased from existence, not my daughters."

Kaylie and Layla, reassured, stepped back and let the others resume.

"So what are we doing now?" Yusu asked.

"Well... that depends." Kye said. "If the lot of you want to stay here for a while, you can, or if you want me to send you to Fuso, that works. Also, if you are hungry, you could go to the kitchen. There's pretty much anything you can imagine in there."

"Yeah, we didn't eat before we left." Rei said. "I'm kind of hungry."

* * *

After everyone ate, Kye teleported ahead to the Underground while Yami lead the group to its entrance. The entrance to the underground was hidden in the dungeon. It wasn't a door, though, but a portal.

Once everyone entered, the few that hadn't been there before were amazed at what they saw. They came out in a beachhouse overlooking an ocean. The entire shoreline was a sandy beach as far as the eye could see in either direction, and the land was grassy meadows with small hills further inland.

"It's a paradise!" Yoshika said.

"Welcome to the Underground." Kye said as she appeared in front of the group.

"Is all of this under the palace?" Yusu asked.

"Nope." Yami said. "This entire place is on the surface of Planet Hikari. It's called the Underground due to its location. Planet Hikari is similar to Planet Earth in that it has land and sea. There are only two landmasses, however. One big one, which encompasses the Light Kingdom, and one small one, which is where we are now."

"Don't forget to mention how big Planet Hikari is." Kye said.

"Right." Yami said. "It's about the size of the sun, though most of it is ocean. The Kingdom is on the north pole of the planet and the Underground is on the South Pole, thus its name."

"Feel free to do whatever you want here, but as soon as you are ready to leave, just contact me through the holo-monitor in the beach house here." Kye said.

"If you want to go back to the palace, the portal goes to and from, so just make use of that, though I advise you stay here. You can lock the portal from this side and there's a barrier surrounding the underground about twenty five thousand kilometers in every direction. The underground itself is about five thousand kilometers in diameter. It's a circular landmass. What else..."

"We get it, Kye." Yami said. "I know where everything is, most of us do. If Yoshika or Yusu has questions, I can answer them."

"Okay then." Kye said. "I'm returning to the God's Realm. I'll be watching you!" She vanished without another word.

"She sure didn't stay for very long." Yusu said.

"She has other things to do now that she's back in her place as the Goddess of Light full time." Yami said. "Anyway, we have the run of the place it seems. Do whatever you like. If you have questions, feel free to ask me. I'll be inside the beach house."

* * *

While Yoshika and the others got settled in at the Underground, the witches back at the base were awestricken. Everyone but the ten remaining members of the 501st, the three remaining members of the 511th Fuso, and the other 511th commanders had dispersed from the auditorium.

"She's..." Trude said, unable to finish her sentence.

"She's gone." Erica muttered in disbelief.

"NO! YOSHIKA!" Lucchini said, crying into Shirley's chest.

"Yoshika..." Shirley muttered.

"What do we do without her?" Perrine asked, almost frantic.

Mio hadn't said a word since Yoshika and the others vanished, and Minna had said "Dismissed." Both were sitting in the front row, speechless.

"We've lost our strongest witches." Bell said. "We're at a major disadvantage not only in manpower but morale. Just about everyone left with depression on their faces."

"Without them, we don't stand a chance." Lion said. "What can we even do without them?"

"I don't see much option." Valterri said.

Mio finally stood up, half startling everyone in the process. "Whatever Yoshika is doing, she's doing it for a reason. I don't know what that reason is, but it's got to be important for her to leave the way she did. But what was... oh no." She slumped back down in her chair at the realization of what she had forgotten.

"What?" Minna asked.

"I can't believe I forgot." Mio said. "It makes sense."

"What makes sense?!"

"Minna... do you remember what Kye told us when she dragged us all into the dream world?"

"Vaguely." Minna said.

"There was one important detail." Mio said. "Humanity is being tested. Kye even made a big deal about it at the general headquarters."

Minna had a look on her face as if she'd seen a ghost. "I... I remember now."

As if a chilled wind blew across the others, everyone remembered.

"We can't destroy the neuroi." Mio said. "If we destroy them... we lose."

* * *

August 17th, 2012

"What did you want to work on, Yami?" Yoshika asked as the two walked through a large meadow.

"At our level, we're not going to get much stronger without a new aura." Yami said. "We're just about at our peek without breaching the Zen Aura that Kye was able to use."

"But that was unique to her." Yoshika said. "I've tried since she first used it. I haven't even been able to manage silver sparks in my true golden aura."

"I know." Yami said. "We won't be able to reach the Zen Aura, but we can do something else. There's a different aura, completely separate from the energy projection auras."

"Different than the energy projection auras?"

"Yes." Yami said. "Before I explain any of that, though, I must explain something else. How much do you know about the gods?"

"Well, I know Kye is the Goddess of Light and Zen is the God of Darkness." Yoshika said. "And there's that Queen Xera and King Zalen."

"That's four out of eight." Yami said. "As with my siblings, I am also a god. I maybe in a mortal body right now, but otherwise I am like Kye and Zen. Zalen is the King of the Gods and our grandfather. Xera is the Queen of the Gods and our mother. Before you ask, they have only a father and daughter relationship."

"Go on."

"Kye is the Goddess of Light, but that's not her complete title. The same goes for Zen and his God of Darkness title. They are actually the Goddess of Light Energy and God of Dark Energy respectively, and I am the Goddess of Neutral Energy."

"Is there a god for Zen?"

"No. There are, however, two Goddesses of Light. Rei's immortal being is the same as her mother's. She doesn't carry the formal title like Kye does, but she is a Goddess of Light. I'm suspicious about that, but I don't know if it means anything or what. Anyway, the last two are something different."

"Kaylie and Layla?"

"You guessed right. You can also probably guess their divinities, but I'll save you the trouble. Kaylie is the Goddess of Time and Space and Layla is the Goddess of Creation and Destruction. They are the two gods that don't have complete control over their power, even before they were sentenced to Mortal Imprisonment."

"Is their power too great for them?"

"That's not the reason. Once Zalen named Xera the Queen of the Gods, he vanished. That was before we were born. He returned when Kaylie and Layla were born and put a seal on their power. They can't access the extreme levels. If they had ever been able to do that... they could create realms together."

"Are they really that powerful?"

"All of us are far beyond the reach of any mortal or immortal." Yami said. "We are literal gods, not just some group of powerful immortals that lay claim to godly titles. Anyway, I am the Goddess of Neutral Energy. Despite the fact that magic was introduced into your world by Yuko Miyafuji, the shared daughter of Kaylie and Layla, I am the one that carries the divinity of magic."

"So you are the Goddess of Magic?" Yoshika asked.

"Yes." Yami said. "This is why I can teach you something nobody else can. The Magic Aura. The different between the Energy Auras and the Magic Aura is simple. The Energy Auras are not fueled by your magic power, but your raw energy. It burns your energy to strengthen your magic power. The Magic Aura is fueled directly by both and uses them in perfect unison."

"In unison?"

"Yes. The effectiveness is considerably higher and has no upper limit. As with the Energy Auras, you can only go so high, but with the Magic Aura, you can grow for as long as you draw breath."

"And you can teach me this?"

"Yes, well I could teach it to you if you didn't already know it." Yami said. "Do you remember when you destroyed that giant core in Venezia all those years ago?"

"I used the True Reppuzan, or rather the Zen Reppuzan."

"Right." Yami said. "Your Zen Reppuzan was fueled by True Zen Magic. You had an aura active when you did that."

"The blue aura, stage three."

"Nope. That was only a suspicion made by Kye. That happened before her mortal self had a significant understand of the Energy Auras. You use the Magic Aura that time. I don't know too much about True Zen, but I do know that it is everything in harmony, something that the Energy Auras are not."

"But I used the Zen Reppuzan again against the Neuroi Queen!" Yoshika said. "And it was with True Zen Energy, but with the True Golden Aura."

"Yes, you did." Yami said. "You used both the True Golden Aura and the Magic Aura at once. The Magic Aura trumped the True Golden Aura for the few seconds you needed to execute your Zen Reppuzan."

"I see, so it was the same as with my ancestor Yoshi? She used the Zen Reppuzan with the True Golden Aura as well."

"Right." Yami said.

"And I already know how to use the Magic Aura."

"Also, right. Just think about it for a moment. You used it subconsciously in the past, but you must change that to a conscious use now. Give it some thought. It'll come to you."

"Yes."

* * *

August 20th, 2012

"You're gonna kill yourself on paperwork one of these days." Mio said as she walked into Minna's office. Minna was sitting behind her desk, pen in hand.

"It has to be done." Minna said.

"I hate to bring you bad news while you're doing paperwork, but Xala's spy has brought a change in news."

Minna sighed before asking, "What is it?"

"The neuroi have pushed up their assault date." Mio said. "It's going to be in two days."

"A full week ahead of schedule?"

"It seems so." Mio said. "They were able to gather their forces a lot faster than they anticipated. The other Joint Fighter Wings just arrived yesterday, so I'm going to start going over some joint drills with them today. We have only today and tomorrow to prepare, so I suggest you put the paperwork aside for now."

"You're right." Minna said. "We don't have time to waste. Send word to each commander. I want everyone to meet in the auditorium in one hour for a meeting."

"Will do." Mio said.

"And Mio."

"Yes?"

"I know we have the ultimatum." Minna said. "If we lose to the neuroi, we lose, and if we beat the neuroi, we lose. The only option where we win is if both sides cease fire."

"We're damned either way." Mio said. "Our only hope is to hold out long enough for Yoshika to do whatever it is she's doing. I have faith in her."

"Do you think one person can stop both sides?"

"She's probably the only one that can do that. Kye believed in her so much that she gave her life to buy us more time. All we can do is trust her."

Minna only smiled. "She never has changed. Not one bit."

"I remember when she wanted to protect that humanoid neuroi back in 1944. I attacked it and got hurt." Mio said. "What if we had tried to communicate with it? Maybe we wouldn't be in this mess. The end of the war in 1945 might have been different. We may not have ever time traveled."

"A lot of things could have happened differently." Minna said. "I'm just glad we have this one last chance to make it right."

"Yeah."

* * *

**The Magic Aura **- This is an idea I've been throwing around for a while now, since before the end of Worldwide Liberation. I just couldn't think of how to introduce it. As Yami explained, the Magic Aura uses both Magic Power and Raw Energy in unison. She did not explain that it can be used by and taught to any witch at any level. A complete novice can learn it. This is a universal ability that increases with the user. It does not have stages like the Energy Auras. I kinda wish I had come up with this idea back when I started Worldwide Liberation so the whole "aura" thing would have been a lot simpler this whole time. The color of the Magic Aura is generally blue, which is why it was mistaken for the Blue Aura at one time. It is not limited to blue, of course. Trude's Super Strength magic gives her a white glow, as would her Magic Aura, if she learns it. Sanya's Magic Aura would probably change colors with her Magic Antenna.

* * *

**Just two more chapters to go. It seems just like yesterday that I started Worldwide Liberation, though it was actually a about a year and a month ago. Time sure does fly. I know this story had gone through some crazy stuff, but the craziest thing is yet to come. I haven't as much as hinted at what the ending is going to be to anyone, I've only said something like "It'll be a curve ball". I'm abandoning my once per week release schedule. The last couple chapters will be released by next Tuesday.**

**I know this is two chapters early, but I wanted to say thanks to the readers for sticking it out for this long. This story has been a wild ride for me, as I'm sure it has been for you. I look forward to seeing everyone's opinions after these final two chapters are released.**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	34. Chapter 34: To Protect Them All

Strike Witches: Return

Final Arc

Chapter 34: To Protect Them All

* * *

August 22nd, 2012

"The Zen Aura isn't an Energy Projection Aura?" Yami asked. She was laying in the grassy meadow overlooking the beach with Kye.

"Nope." Kye said. "I was surprised you didn't realize that. I tried to hide it by flickering through the Light, Dark, and True Golden Auras, but even so, you should have noticed."

"So the Zen Aura was actually your Magic Aura?"

"Yeah."

"Yoshika learned the Magic Aura quickly." Kye said. "It only took her half an hour to completely master it, and the others picked it up pretty quick, too."

"The SFS units are partially the reason." Yami said. "I enchanted the Sky Silk that was used to craft them. Every witch that has worn an SFS unit should be able to fully use the Magic Aura without much effort. The built in aura was designed to 'teach' it to them, so to speak. The aura wasn't mean to be hard to learn anyway."

"Crafty." Kye said.

Yami jumped up and started to head toward the beach house. "I'm going to make a smoothie. You want one?"

"I'd rather have a grape shaved ice."

"Simple as always."

"Ehh, I get my share of complicated else ware." Kye said. "I'm just glad to be relaxing for once in a while."

"Indeed. I'll be back in a bit." Yami floated down toward the beach.

Most of the others were playing in the water. Yoshika, Yusu, Rei, and Kamiko were the only ones training, each pair sparring with their swords.

"My, my." Yami said lightly as she approached Yoshika and Yusu. "You two are training hard."

"I want to be ready for when we return." Yusu said.

"Is your Magic Aura training complete?"

"Yes." Yusu said. "It was surprisingly simple to learn."

"Good deal. Good luck girls, don't hurt yourselves." Yami turned and headed to the beach house. She managed to prepare her smoothie and Kye's shaved ice in under a minute. "Might as well check the holo-monitor before I head back to the meadow."

She laid the cups down on a nearby table, switched on the holo-monitor, and set it to the base in Britannia. Her breath was taken away by what she saw.

"Oh, no." Yami said. "This early?!" She ran out of the beach house and started to fly up to Kye, but was cut off by the ominous voice of the God King Zalen. He was accompanied by Queen Xera.

"You have run out of time." Zalen said. "Humanity has failed to prove to me that they deserve their place."

"What?" Yoshika said. "What are...? "I just saw it on the holo-monitor." Yami said. "The attack is a week ahead of schedule. The witches are fighting the neuroi

right now. We have to go!"

"But I haven't learned..." Yoshika started.

"It does not matter." Xera said. "You're time is up."

Suddenly, Kye dropped out of the sky and landed between Zalen and Yoshika, throwing up a small sand cloud from how hard she hit the ground. "I don't think so."

"Move aside, Goddess of Light." Xera said. "The mortals have failed."

"Not yet, they haven't." Kye said. "There is still time for her to go there and stop the battle."

"You've put your faith in the wrong place." Zalen said. "Move aside."

"How about you make me?" Kye said. A cloak of silver energy soon engulfed her body, but it wasn't an Energy Projection Aura or the Magic Aura. Her raw energy was so powerful that it was visible.

"You would fight the King of the Gods?" Zalen said. "You stand no..." He was interrupted and knocked back by Kye.

She hit him hard in the stomach and kicked him into the sky, both hits generating intense shockwaves and thundering booms.

Kye gave a quick glance to Xera before taking off after Zalen, wanting to put as much distance between them and the beach as possible.

Yami looked at Xera. "What will you do, mother?"

"To be honest, I don't care." Xera said. "If you are returning to the mortal world, do so before their battle ends. I don't know how long Kye can hold him off, but it won't be forever."

"All right." Yami said. She turned to Yoshika. "Show time. I know you're not ready, but we don't have a choice."

"I know." Yoshika said.

Yami created a portal that would lead them to the airspace above the battle on earth, but before anyone could enter it, everything froze and turned black and white. Only Yoshika was able to move.

"What's going on?" She said. "What happened?"

"That was my doing." A familiar voice said. Yoshika's mortal Jouten floated out of its sheath and took on a human form, though it was shrouded in a black cloak. Its face was completely covered with only blonde locks of hair hanging out of the hood. Nothing else was visible under the cloak. The cloak was tightly wrapped around Jouten's body, revealing that of a female body.

"Jouten?"

"I froze time." Jouten said. "Everything in all of the realms, aside the two of us, is frozen in place. Even the gods are frozen in time."

"But how?"

"It is time you know what I really am." Jouten said. "The sword that Kye carries and the sword that you carry both have the same name. While you once believed this was because one was the original immortal version and the other was crafted for certain mortals, this is not entirely true. My mortal version was created using a portion of the energy from my immortal version."

"So, the two Jouten swords are one in the same?"

"Yes. And beyond that, I am the original human form of Jouten." Jouten continued. "What does my name mean?"

"God?"

"Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but yes. My name means the absolute, or supreme being, as well. This stems from my original form."

"What do you mean?"

"Hold out your hands as if holding a ball."

Yoshika was unsure what Jouten wanted, but obeyed nonetheless. Jouten walked up to her, held out her own hand, and formed a ball of rainbow colored energy. As Jouten removed her own hand, the ball stayed in Yoshika's hands. "Do you understand?"

"It's incredible." Yoshika said. "This... is everything. Everything is one. And you..."

"There is only one god with the ability to use True Zen." Jouten said. "Before I was split into two beings, the immortal version and mortal version, I was created from Kye's life energy, but not during her reign as the Goddess of Light. I'll let you put the hints together for that."

"I understand." Yoshika said.

"There is one thing you must know about True Zen before you go."

"What is it?"

"Do not allow your heart to waver." Jouten said. "True Zen is oneness. Your heart and your actions must be aligned for it to work. If you heart is in the wrong place, the magic will kill you upon casting."

"I have nothing the worry about." Yoshika said. "I will protect everyone. Not just the witches and other humans, but the neuroi as well. My heart has always wanted a true peace. I will make this a reality."

"Well said." Jouten said. "Now, I must go. I must rejoin the Jouten that Master Kye carries so that she can fight Lord Zalen while you go to the mortal world and do what you must. It was an honor fighting by your side, Master Yoshika. Good luck."

"Thank you, Jouten." Yoshika said. "Likewise."

Just as Jouten vanished, the world regained its color and time moved forward once again. Nobody was even aware of what just happened between Yoshika and Jouten.

"Yami." Yoshika said. "Let's go. I know what to do."

* * *

The witches did what they could to hold their ground. Neuroi beams, bullet trails, and magical attacks filled the sky. The witches and experienced humanoid neuroi used shields as needed.

Mio commonly looked back at the base, which was barely visible from their location over the Strait of Dover, in hopes that Yoshika and the others would show up and help.

With the witch force being outnumbered by such a large degree, the neuroi slowly pushed them back.

"Minna, we can't hold out like this forever." Trude said. "We're gonna have to fight back in earnest and cut their numbers if we plan to hold out for them to return."

"We don't even know that they will return." Minna said. "But you are right. We won't last forever like this."

"This is General Sakamoto." Mio announced on the intercom. "All Commanders relay to your wings that we are counterattacking. Thin their ranks until you can successfully defend against the rest."

"Roger." Several voices called at once.

* * *

"You can't defeat me." Zalen said. "All you are doing is prolonging the inevitable."

Kye didn't respond, but merely kept up her relentless attacks. Zalen managed to parry most of Kye's attacks, but still took a hit every so often. As much power the King of Gods held, even he couldn't hold a feather to Kye's combat prowess.

The two didn't use any flashy attacks. It would only accomplish obliterating the land below, which was being shaken enough by the shockwaves of their thundering sword exchanges. Any normal sword would have long since broken under the pressure of two gods clashing, but Kye's Jouten and Zalen's Hand of the King were far from normal swords.

"You may be able to land a hit on me, but you will not defeat me." Zalen said. He suddenly moved at an incredible speed that even Kye had trouble following.  
Their battle was seemingly even up until that point, but Zalen turned the tables. He forced Kye back repeatedly. She was barely able to defend against his attacks and was launched backward so far that she landed in the ocean.

"Damn it." She floated up out of the water and used magic to fling the water from her hair and clothing.

"It sounds like you could use a hand." Jouten, in her human form, appeared next to Kye just before Zalen teleported to the scene.

"Jouten?" Kye said, surprised. "But, you should be with Yoshika."

"She no longer needs me, Master Kye. She knows what to do."

Kye's eyes were at ease upon hearing Jouten say that. She had a peace of mind. Zalen watched, curious as to what was going on.

Jouten held her hand out to Kye's left. "Please, take my hand."

"I can't do that." Kye said. "You know what would happen."

"That is exactly what I want." Jouten said. "You have to combine me into one again."

"Jouten..."

"You must!"

Kye took Jouten's hand, allowing the cloaked girl to transform into a sword. Kye held one Jouten in her right hand and the other in her left. She brought the swords together, and they merged into one.

"What?" Zalen mumbled, unsure what to make of the act.

The visible cloak of silver energy emanating from Kye flared as she gripped the newly reformed Jouten. The look in Kye's eyes changed drastically. They were suddenly cold and calculating, devoid of any emotion. The black hairband holding Kye's hair in place disintegrated, allowing her long blonde hair to flow naturally.

* * *

"My vision." Eila said. "It's coming true." Eila sight was suddenly overcome by the vision she had months ago in Liberion.

"Eila, what's wrong?" Sanya asked. She noticed that Eila's eyes were faded in color. "You're eyes."

"The vision I had in April is coming true." Eila said. "I can see it happening right now. Kye is fighting that cloaked man. Her eyes, her outfit, her hair, and that fierce aura of silver energy... it's all there."

Just as she watched Kye charge the cloaked man, her eyesight returned and the vision ended, just as before. She saw something else with her precognitive magic and looked to the sky where a horizontal circle shaped portal formed.

Smiles ran across everyone's faces as Yoshika and the others poured out. They were quick to action. Yoshika and Rei wasted no time throwing up as many shields as possible to block the incoming neuroi beams, each of them managing over one hundred shields.

"Yoshika!" Every Strike Witch shouted simultaneously over the intercom.

"I'm sorry I'm late, everyone!" Yoshika said. "I would have been here sooner if I knew the attack was going to be today."

Mio noticed her blue aura immediately and flew up to her, not only to ask about the aura, but about her plan as well. "You're aura is different. It's the same color as the third stage, but I sense it has as much power as Kye's seventh stage aura."

"It's new." Yoshika said.

"You have a plan?" Mio asked.

"Yeah, but I need a little time to cast the spell." Yoshika said. "Gather the others and talk to Rei. She can teach you all the Magic Aura. You should pick it up quick since everyone's been using the SFS."

"Magic Aura?"

"Rei will explain." Yoshika said. "I have to start preparing my spell now. Yusu is going to protect me in the meantime."

"All right." Mio said. "I just want you to know something before you do this." A look of compassion, unusual for Mio Sakamoto, was apparent on her face, taking Yoshika by surprise.

"What is it?"

"You aren't my student anymore." Mio said. "You have made me proud to have been your teacher."

Yoshika only smiled at Mio and hugged her. "I'll always be your student." She flew off without another word.

Mio watched as Yoshika flew high into the sky and muttered to herself. "Sergeant Miyafuji." She turned her attention to the other Strike Witches and had everyone gather behind the lines for Rei's explanation.

Rei wasted no time explaining what they had been doing. She explained Yoshika's intention to stop the battle, but she needed time to cast her spell. She also explained the Magic Aura and how it differed from the Energy Projection Auras, and that it could be used by any witch, regardless of power or experience.

After a short explanation on the Magic Aura itself, all ten remaining Strike Witches were able to activate it.

"It's meant to be simple, yet effective." Rei said. "You will pick up on it quickly in battle, too."

"I never would have thought." Minna said. "An aura usable by any witch, and its power depends on the user."

"The more powerful you are yourself, the more powerful the aura becomes." Rei said. "You will find that all of your abilities are heightened. Your senses, your magic, your everything. Put it to good use holding back the neuroi while Yoshika does her thing."

"Right." Minna said. "You heard her, girls. Strike Witches, move out!"

* * *

Just as Yoshika showed up, the real battle between Kye and Zalen started. Kye's cold, calculating eyes fixated on Zalen.

"I'm tired of the game." She said. "It's time to end this."

"Is that so?" Zalen said in return. "Let's just see you try, girl."

"You're a fool." Kye said as she charged in toward Zalen.

She moved at a speed that took even Zalen by surprise. Kye was able to match him in strength and speed now and already outmatched him skill.

'I never thought the day would come that I would feel this power again.' Kye's thoughts raced almost as fast as her battle with Zalen. 'It's been a near immeasurable number of years. More that I care to count.'

'The worlds were young in that time.' Jouten spoke to Kye in her mind. 'You had just forged me from your life energy.'

'With you whole once again, my own power is no longer limited.' Kye replied to Jouten.

'Zalen does not realize this yet, but he soon will know that he can never win against you.'

Sparks of rainbow energy flashed from Kye's body as she exchanged blows with Zalen, each thundering blow more devastating that the last.

'Her power just keeps increasing!' Zalen thought to himself. 'What is this?! Her eyes are different.'

"Have you realized it yet?" Kye asked in a monotone voice, her words cold enough to freeze boiling water.

"Just what have you done to increase your power by such a large margin?"

"It's not that I've increased my power, it's more of that my power is no longer limited." Kye said.

The two came to a standstill and floated down to the ground to speak. Xera appeared next to them, wondering what was going on herself.

"Come on, Zalen. You should know what I'm talking about."

He floated there in silence for several moments, his vast mind trying to solve the riddle in front of him. Realization fell upon him as he finally put the puzzle pieces together. "There was a Primordial God known as the Goddess of the Seven Stars. This goddess created the realms and vanished sometime after I was born, eons ago. She never left, however. She has been here the whole time." Zalen bowed to Kye. "Welcome back."

"The unlimited power of all energy, magic, time, space, creation, destruction, life, and death..." Kye formed a ball of the rainbow colored True Zen in her left hand. "It's all part of something greater. There is a reason no single god had all of these different powers in one. No being, not even a god should have this sort of power. The power to alter time in itself is a great responsibility, but that mixed with all the others... I wasn't even sure I should have carried such a power. I split my power for that very reason. Even now, my former power still slowly returns."

"You are the only one of us that can be truly called a god." Zalen said. "The rest of us are vastly powerful immortals with unique abilities, but none of us carry what you carry. Omnipotence... omniscience..."

Kye didn't respond at first, but instead created a large scrying orb out of nothing to watch Yoshika in the mortal world.

"She is one of the rare mortals that is capable of True Zen." Kye said. "Her heart is unrivaled. She will end this conflict the right way."

Zalen and Xera stood silently as the three watched the rainbow magic clad witch casting her spell. Even Zen appeared out of nowhere, intent on watching to see if Yoshika succeeds.

* * *

"Just a few more minutes!" Yoshika muttered. She had already gathered a considerable amount of True Zen Energy. She was barely able to speak under the immense pressure of the coalesced rainbow energy.

The other witches could only watch in awe at the sight of Yoshika holding that much power high in the sky. Even the neuroi had grown a mixture of curious and intimidated.

The fighting slowed down as more and more combatants became entranced by the ominous presence above.

"There!" Yoshika said. "It's ready." She held her hands out for a moment, relieved that she had finally finished gathering the power needed to cast her spell. She put her hands together as if in the position to pray. She slowly pulled her hands apart, revealing a small ball of rainbow energy. She quickly flung her arms outward, causing the ball to grow and expand at a rapid rate. It engulfed the entire battlefield and everything as far as the eye could see in less than a second.

"Zen Serenity!"

* * *

**Zen Serenity**

Zen Serenity is a special True Zen spell. It has the power to calm and pacify the minds of everyone it touches, but it is not limited to just that. The spell has several more special effects that will be seen in the next chapter.

* * *

**上天 - Jouten, Heavenly Blade of the Gods **

Wielded by Kye, Jouten is bonded to Kye through her very life force and is a sentient being. The sword is very powerful in her own right and can take on a human form at will. She has similar power to it's owner, though just as her owner is limited without her, she is limited without her owner. Kye and Jouten personify the phrase "the sword is an extension of one's body."

The name Jouten can mean "Heaven", "God", "Providence", "the Supreme Being", or "the Absolute".

* * *

******The name of Zalen's sword "Hand of the King" is mirrored by the name of Xera's sword "Hand of the Queen."**

**We are almost to a close. Just one more chapter! The climax is finally here. Will Yoshika's Zen Serenity succeed or fail? Of course it will succeed... good guys always win... right? You'll see in the final chapter! Remember though, it's not whether or not it works... it's HOW. I've been hinting at a big plot twist in this climax for a while now. True to my word, I have not given even the slightest hint in what this could be. I hope everyone else will be as excited about the twist as I was creating it.**

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	35. Chapter 35: The Neuri Tribe

Strike Witches: Return

Final Arc

Chapter 35: The Neuri Tribe

* * *

August 22nd, 2012

"Just a few more minutes!" Yoshika muttered. She had already gathered a considerable amount of True Zen Energy. She was barely able to speak under the immense pressure of the coalesced rainbow energy.

The other witches could only watch in awe at the sight of Yoshika holding that much power high in the sky. Even the majority of the neuroi had started watching her.

The stronger higher class humanoid neuroi did not stop their attacks, however. The witches with immortal origins guarded Yoshika as she continued to gather the power she needed.

Eleven Class Ten humanoid neuroi moved in to attack Yoshika, but the eleven Strike Witches stood in their way.

"Strike Witches, defend Yoshika!" Minna ordered. "She needs more time!"

"Roger!" Everyone said in unison.

"I don't know what she's doing, but I will not let you get in her way!" Trude yelled as she knocked one of the eleven attacking neuroi away and gave chase.

"She'll save the day." Erica added as she used her Sturm to blow away another of the attacking neuroi. "She's Yoshika Miyafuji, after all."

"You've proved yourself time and time again." Shirley said. "Don't stop now!"

"Go, Yoshika! Show 'em what a witch can do!" Lucchini added.

"I see only good fortune in your future!" Eila said.

"We believe in you, Yoshika!" Sanya added.

"You are the Prodigal Witch! Do it!" Perrine said.

"You are the only one that can stop this war!" Lynne said.

"Do you hear everyone, Yoshika?" Rei said. "We're with you!"

"I've watched you grow from a rookie to the most seasoned witch I've ever seen." Mio said. "You have an extraordinary gift. Now go, Yoshika. There's nothing a witch can't do!" She gave extra emphasis to her favorite phrase.

"There!" Yoshika said. "It's ready!" She held her hands out for a moment, relieved that she had finally finished gathering the power needed to cast her spell.  
The mass of rainbow energy pulsated with a deafening sound and sent out a wave of magic, engulfing every combatant on the battlefield in a cloak of rainbow energy. The fighting instantly ceased. Nobody was able to take any action.

Kaylie and Layla noticed the bindings on their wrists had cracked as soon as the rainbow energy had covered them. This allowed them to remove the bindings and access their locked power. Kaylie subtly activated the full power of her time and space magic.

"It's warm." Lynne said.

"Is this...?" Perrine mumbled. "Yes."

Yoshika placed her hands together as if in a position to pray, then slowly pulled them apart, forming a ball of True Zen.

"It's unbelievable." Trude said.

"You said it." Erica added.

"It's so different." Eila said.

"I can hear her feelings." Sanya said.

The sky and sea both started glowing in the rainbow energy as far as the eye could see. Even the land in the distance was glowing.

"She's doing it!" Lucchini said.

"It's beautiful." Shirley added.

"I never imagined..." Minna said.

"That's Yoshika for ya." Rei said.

"Yes." Mio said. "This is her power!"

"Zen Serenity!" Yoshika flung her arms outward, causing the ball of True Zen she was holding to expand at a blinding speed. It covered the entire battlefield, hit land, and kept going, all in the blink of an eye. The light cloak of rainbow energy covering everybody brightened, just as the glow from the sky, sea, and ground brightened.

"How far is it going?" Minna asked as the wave continued beyond the range of her Area Analysis. The wave continued even beyond Sanya's range.

Yoshika was breathing heavy, but managed to answer. "It will effect..." She took a breath. "The whole planet."

"What?" Yami gasped. "Even if it is True Zen... to affect the whole planet?"

"That's not all." Yoshika said. She pointed at Xala.

"What's happening to me?" Xala said as she watched the rainbow energy covering her body become more and more opaque. Soon, nothing of her could be seen, just as nothing of any neuroi could be seen through a shroud of rainbow energy.

* * *

April 12th, 1952

As the rainbow energy faded from the sky, sea, and ground, the individual cloaks that had engulfed everyone on the battlefield faded as well.

The energy covering the neuroi faded slower, but eventually, they were visible again, or at least something in their place was visible.

Everyone's eyes fixated on Xala's location, but instead of a blue and black allied neuroi, a blue eyed human floated there in her place.

"Wha..." She said. "Skin?" She looked around at saw that everyone was staring at her, unsure of what had happened. "What happened to me?"

"Who is that?" Mio asked. "Did..."

Yoshika flew down to the blue eyed girl now floating in Xala's place. "My magic has returned the neuroi to their true being. When I learned the Zen Serenity, I learned so much more. You are human, Xala, as are the rest of the neuroi."

The witches looked around, seeing no neuroi anywhere, but humans in their place. Each one had distinct bright eyes, being either red or blue.

Every neuroi was turned into a human, no matter what their size, and fortunately, they had on some sort of ancient looking, but simple clothing. The color matched their eyes, red for the ones that took the place of the enemy neuroi, and blue for the ones of the allies.

"I don't understand." Xala said. "We have been returned to our true being?"

"Hold that thought for a moment." Layla said. "Yoshika, your spell did something for Kaylie and me, too."

"It did?"

The two held up their left arms, showing the lack of thier black bands.

"Our Mortal Imprisonment has ended." Kaylie said as their appearance changed somewhat. Their hair turned red and their eyes turned silver. "I am once again Goddess of Time and Space."

"And I am once again Goddess of Creation and Destruction." Layla added. "And it looks like the others are coming, too."

Kye, Zen, Zalen, and Xera all appeared in front of everyone.

"It is over." Kye said. "Yoshika has brought about the peaceful ending she so strongly desired."

"Kye!" Several of the witches said.

"Please, I am no longer Kye Miyafuji." Kye said. "By the way, Rei, the title Goddess of Light is currently vacant. Don't you think it's time you filled it?"

"What?" Rei asked curiously. "You are no longer..."

"She has ascended beyond all our power." Zalen said.

"Not important." Kye said. "Including, Rei and Yami, all eight gods are present. I believe Kaylie has a surprise for everyone."

"Right." Kaylie said excitedly. "I activated my time and space magic just before the full effect of your Zen Serenity kicked in."

"Huh?" Yoshika said.

"In short, I transported everyone in this airspace through time and space." Kaylie explained. "We are now in the airspace above Yokosuka, Fuso and the date is April 12th, 1952."

"Don't forget that most of the people here are actually from the time in 2012." Layla said.

"Right." Kaylie said.

"I handled that problem." Kye said. "I watched as you used your time and space magic to transport everyone. In the transition, I switched out anyone that existed in 1952 for their counterpart that is from 1952 and I transferred the memories and abilities gained to them."

"How did..."

"Not important." Kye said. "Just know that anyone that exists in both 1952 and 2012 are in their proper times and in both cases retain their full memories and abilities from both time periods. For those that did not exist in 1952, they will have to be transported back to 2012 afterward."

"I could have done that myself!" Kaylie argued against Kye.

"Except for their memories and such." Kye teased her daughter.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Anyway, Xala you had a question for Yoshika, right?" Kye said.

"Yes." Xala said as she and everyone else turned attention to Yoshika. "What did you mean by our true being?"

"I can answer that." Another voice called. A small group of people with eyes just like the former neuroi approached from the south, except their eyes were green. The one that had spoken was wearing a gold necklace with a green crystal. She, along with the others, was wearing similar ancient, but simple clothing that matched their eye color. She seemed to be about twenty years old. "You have been cleansed."

"Who..."

"Am I?" The green-eyed young woman said, finishing Xala's question. "I am Xiani, leader of the Neuri Tribe." Before anyone could ask any more questions, she turned to Yoshika. "I want to thank you, Miss Yoshika Miyafuji. Where your two ancestors died before they could carry out the cleansing, you have succeeded. For ten thousand years, a portion of my people have existed, trapped in those black metallic bodies, but now they are free."

Before Yoshika could respond, she started to float downward, her magic supply almost drained. Lynne and Perrine quickly flew down to support her.

"I am happy that I could help." Yoshika said.

"I would like to speak to both leaders of the former red and blue neuroi." Xiani said. "Would Xala and Xale forward to me, please?"

"Xale has been destroyed." Xala said. "He died in the last..."

"I am not dead, Xala." Came the voice of Xale. He came forward with Xala, also a human, but with red eyes.

"You... how?" Xala, now able to express emotions with her human face, held a mixed look of surprise and relief.

Kye interrupted before Xale could respond. "Time is a wonderful thing isn't it? Xale did not die until August 5th, 2012. Today is April 12th, 1952. He is alive and well."

"And I have the memories of everything I did in 2012." Xale said. "Thanks to the Prodigal Witch's pacifying magic, I see no reason to fight."

"Then we can be..."

"Brother and sister once again?" Xale finished Xala's sentence for her. "Yes."

Xala's face turned red briefly. "Good."

"Princess Xala and Prince Xale, children of Queen Xali, who lost her life during the battle at the end of the Second Neuroi War in 1945, you are the current leaders of the former blue and red neuroi armies, respectively." Xiani said. "As leader of the Neuri Tribe, I have come to extend a welcome to the formerly lost members of the tribe. All of you are welcome to return to Neurida with us."

"What is Neurida?" Xala asked.

"Land of the Neuri." Xiani said. "It is a continent floating in the sky, invisible and unreachable to any outsiders. The Neuri are human people as are the people of Fuso, Europe, and Liberion, though we are far more advanced and have existed separately for thousands of years."

"If we go to Neurida with you, will we be able to come back here whenever we wish?" Xala asked.

"Of course, Xala. You may do anything you wish. Neurida is a place of peace. Perhaps it is time for us to reacquaint ourselves with the rest of humanity. The power of the Prodigal Witch, Yoshika Miyafuji, has reached even us in Neurida. We felt warm as her power passed through."

"I speak on behalf of the former red neuroi." Xale said. "We no longer have any intention of fighting. The magic of the Prodigal Witch has shown to us that mankind truly means no harm."

"The Zen Serenity sent a message to everyone in the world." Yoshika said. "My message to the world was that both sides only fought out of fear of the other, but if there is nothing to fear between them, then is no reason to fight. Only to live in peace."  
Suddenly, the world lost its color and everything froze in place, all except for Yoshika and Kye. "Well said, Yoshika."

"You can freeze time, too?" Yoshika asked.

"Yes." Kye said. "I'll explain why in a moment, but first, I want to talk to you about the Neuri. I met them long ago when I first came to earth with Yuko Miyafuji. Back then, the neuroi did not yet exist. I mentioned once that my brother Zen created the neuroi, did I not?"

"You worded it different, but yes." Yoshika said.

"He placed a curse on the Neuri Tribe shortly after I brought Yuko to earth." Kye said. "My power was limited at the time, but I was able to prevent the curse from affecting some of them. Their descendants are the green eyed ones here, led by Xiani. The ones that were affected transformed into monsters with red and black metallic bodies."

"Yuko tried to cure them, didn't she?"

"Yes." Kye said. "She died before she was able to cast Zen Serenity. She left behind a daughter though. Many generations later, the ancient Yoshika Miyafuji or Yusu... or Yoshi I suppose as Yuko calls her, tried to do the same. She awakened her True Zen power at the age of twenty two, but also died before she could cast the spell. She left behind a son. Flash forward many generations, and here you are, successful where they did not have the opportunity."

"I only did what I felt was right."

"And right it was." Kye said. "You have changed the world, Yoshika. You have given a message of peace to the entire human race and have lifted the Neuroi curse from those of the Neuri Tribe who were affected."

"Yes." Yoshika said with a warm smile on her face. "I can feel everyone's happiness."

"Now do you want to know how I froze time?"

"Jouten did it, too just before she went to join you earlier." Yoshika said.

"Yes. Jouten has been restored to a single being." Kye said. "Long ago, eons before even Zalen was born, existed a Primordial God known as the Goddess of the Seven Stars. This Goddess created everything you see before you. The earth, the sun, well, she created that which set in motion everything else that eventually lead to this."

"Uh... what?" Yoshika said, confused.

"Simply put, she created everything." Kye said. "This Goddess then created a sword from her own life energy. This sword was named Jouten."

"But I thought Jouten was..."

"Created from my life energy?" Kye said. "Yes it was."

"Wait... you?"

"I am that very same Goddess. Eons after the realms were created, an immortal with great power was born, Zalen. I blessed him and named him King of the Gods. Then I vanished. After many more years, he had a daughter, Xera. She inherited my blessing and was also born with great power. She was named Queen of the Gods. Before Xera had her first child, I appeared in front of her. I told her who I was and that I wanted to be reborn as a normal immortal."

"Why did you do that?"

"The power I wield as the Goddess of the Seven Stars is Omnipotence and Omniscience." Kye said. "The Goddess of the Seven Stars is all powerful and all knowing. That is what a god really is. No one should have that sort of power. I wanted to experience life without that power, so I was reborn to Queen Xera and King Akari as Crown Princess Kye Akari of the Light Kingdom. My brother, Zen, was boring one year later, and my sister, Yami, a year after that. This was a little over ten thousand years ago."

"I see." Yoshika said.

"And you should know the general sense of things after that." Kye said.

"Yeah." Yoshika said. "So what happens now? We are back in 1952 and there is the Neuri Tribe."

"You saved the world." Kye said. "You get to decide."

"M-me?"

"What do you want to happen?" Kye said. "You could go back to 2012 and live there, or you can return to your life in 1952. Speaking of which, Kaylie put us at the time of your disappearance that day."

"I know what I want, then." Yoshika said. "I want the thirteen strike witches to return to Yokosuka Naval Base together just how we were before all of this happened."

"That means..."

"I want you to go back with us as Kye Miyafuji." Yoshika said. "All thirteen of us. That is my wish."

"Yoshika, Kye Miyafuji is..."

"You said you have omnipotence." Yoshika said. "You can do anything!"

"You are right." Kye said. "I can grant your wish."

"Before you do, what will happen to everyone else?"

"Do you mean the Neuri Tribe or do you mean the various witches from 2012?"

"Both."

"Well, the Neuri Tribe is going to reveal themselves to the world and you will be renowned as a hero once again, but for cleansing the neuroi this time. The ones that were cleansed will rejoin the Neuri Tribe and the entirety of the Neuri Tribe will eventually assimilate into society."

"Assimilate into society?" Yoshika said. "Does that mean they will... uhh...? "They are all human." Kye said. "It's very possible that the Neuri will intermingle. A human body is a human body. They work the same."

"I see."

"As for the witches from 2012, they will be returned to their time with their memories locked. Time will pass between 1952 and 2012. Once April 12th, 2012 comes around, their memories will be restored. Everyone will eventually meet up again, though you will age."

"So I'll be..." "You'll be your proper age in 2012, eighty two." Kye said. "Everything will happen normally."

"Good, that's what I want." Yoshika said.

"The only exception is Kamiko." Kye said. "She will be returned to 1968 with her memories locked. Once the baby Kamiko turns sixteen, these memories will be restored. She will retain all of her memories after that point. The memories of the life where she grew up without Rei, the false life created by Xera where she grew up with Rei, the time she spent with us as a sixteen year old in 2012, and of course her proper life that will happen as time progresses normally."

"Time is complicated." Yoshika said.

"Indeed." Kye said. "Do you have anything else to do before I grant your wish?"

"No." Yoshika said. "I just want everything to return to normal."

"Then return to normal everything shall." Kye said. She snapped her fingers, created a bright flash of light.

* * *

All of the future witches were transported back through time, leaving only the thirteen Strike Witches, the small group of immortals, the gods, and the Neuri Tribe remaining in the sky above Fuso. Color flooded the world as time was unfrozen.

Yami, Yuko, Shadow, and Lily were no longer in their mortal bodies, but once again immortal. Kamiko disappeared with the witches from 2012, though her time destination was different. The immortals and gods bid everyone goodbye and vanished, returning to the Realm of the Gods and the Realm of Light, respectively.

All that remained were the thirteen Strike Witches and the Neuri Tribe, red and blue eyed Neuri included.

The first thing the witches noticed was that their SFS units were gone and their Third Generation Jet Strikers equipped on their legs. The second thing they noticed was Kye in front of them, striker unit and everything.

"Hey!" She said. "Lieutenant General Kye Miyafuji at your service!"

"Our striker units?" Mio said. "What happened?"

"Yoshika's wish." Kye said. "A certain goddess granted her wish for everything to return to normal."

"Does that mean..."

"We are in our strikers above clouds in Yokosuka." Kye said. "All we have to do is return to the ground where everyone is waiting. Everything will be just how we left it in 1952."

"Thank you for everything, Strike Witches." Xala said.

"I cannot express my gratitude." Xale said.

"I hope there are no hard feelings between us, Xale." Kye said, offering her hand to him.

"Of course not, Kye." Xale said. "You did what had to be done, and it's in the past... or future? Whatever."

"Indeed. Kye said.

"Xiani, where is Neurida?" Xala asked.

"It's in the sky southeast of here." Xiani said. "It is time for me to return. It would be nice if you and the others came along."

"I think I will." Xala said. "I am curious to see it."

"As am I." Xale said.

"By the way... what about the power we had as Neuroi?" Xala asked.

"That power was from your Neuri heritage." Xiani said as she formed a ball of green energy in her hands. "You should retain all of your powers and no longer have to worry about a core."

"I didn't even think about our cores." Xala said.

"You are human now." Xiani said. "I suppose you could call it your heart. Anyway, it's time to go. I'll see you all at Neurida. Just fly southeast of here and you will find it."

Xiani and the other green-eyed Neuri turned and headed southeast, with the blue-eyed and red-eyed Neuri soon to follow. Only Xala and Xale stayed behind.

"Until next time, Strike Witches." The two said in unison before joining the others.

"Goodbye!" Yoshika called out to them. "Take care!"

The witches smiled as they watched the curse free Neuri Tribe fly away.

"So, Minna, what should we do now?" Kye asked, prompting Minna to give a certain order.

Minna half smiled and half smirked at Kye in response. The others perked up, waiting for the order.

"Strike Witches, return to base!"

"Roger!"

* * *

The Neuri Tribe - The Neuri Tribe is a sort of lost tribe from ancient times that existed in an the area roughly of modern northern Ukraine. The canon neuroi received the name neuroi from "a mythical tribe that once lived in the Black Sea region", though they were known as "Kaii" before that. I created the concept of an ancient advanced race of humans known as the Neuri Tribe for this story as well as the "Neuroi Curse" which all of that was explained in the chapter above.

Neurida - Land of the Neuri

* * *

Well here we are. Strike Witches: Return is coming to a close.

I hope my plot twist about the Neuri Tribe was as much a "curve ball" as I anticipated! All of the neuroi have been "cleansed" by Yoshika's Zen Serenity spell and are once again part of the human Neuri Tribe.

The immortals and gods have returned to the other realms, and life has returned to what it was before the witches were transported through time. It's as if nothing ever happened, though everyone that experienced it will retain their memories of it, because for them... it did happen. Peace has taken the place of war between humanity and the neuroi. Such a conflict is a thing of the past now that the neuroi are now part of the human Neuri Tribe.

I hope everyone liked the story! It's been a long haul, but here we are. Let me know what you all think of the story! I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions! AND STAY TUNED! There is an epilogue coming up after this chapter!

* * *

**********If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


	36. Epilogue: The Skies of the World

Strike Witches: Return

Epilogue: The Skies of the World

* * *

"How many years has it been?"

"Sixteen. The witches never failed to meet up once every four months, just as promised all those years ago. Their children have grown up."

"Their girls have grown up into beautiful young women. Each one bears a strong resemblance to their mother."

"Indeed."

"Ever since Kye Miyafuji returned to the witches, no witch has lost their magic, regardless of age. The witches no longer even have to use the Striker Unit to fly."

"The Magic Aura has become widespread. The witches have learned and mastered it. It's so effective that the witches no longer require equipment for flight."

"And what about them no longer losing their magic?"

"Originally, witches would start declining at age twenty, but thanks to Kye Miyafuji and Energy Projection, that has changed. After that, the age of decline was extended to the mid-thirties. When I revived Kye Miyafuji, I granted another wish. For as long as they live, a witch will never lose their magic."

"How nice of you. How well have the three Neuri Tribes integrated into society?"

"The Blue Neuri Tribe, or those with blue eyes, is led by Xala. They have integrated quite well. Xala's second and third in command, Xelia and Xia, have been working with the world's best scientists, including Ichiro Miyafuji. Xala herself, along with the Red Tribe leader, Xale, has been working with the world leaders to maintain peace. "What about the 'commoners' of the tribes?"

"The 'commoners' of both the Blue Tribe and Red Tribe have taken to civilian life well. Many of the younger ones have befriended the witches' children. They've trained together, schooled together, and some even work together. The older ones have taken to more combat oriented life, including mostly working with the various militaries around the world to train witches and wizards."

"What about the Green Tribe?"

"Xiani and the Green Tribe have mostly remained on their floating island home, Neurida. Xiani has taken a different direction with her integration. She has built multiple airfields on the floating island Neurida and has not only allowed visitors aside the Blue and Red Neuri Tribes, but has invited citizens around the world. Xiani herself occasionally conferences with Xala, Xale, and the world leaders as well. Ichiro Miyafuji and several other leading scientists have visited Neurida and shared their knowledge, a gesture that has graciously been returned."

"So the more advanced technology and knowledge of the Green Tribe has been shared with the rest of humanity?"

"Yes."

"What have the witches been doing in the past sixteen years?"

"They have been taking life easy and raising their children. With the youngest being sixteen years old, they are all grown. Some have even fallen in love. Youth is a wonderful thing."

"Care to share what each witch individually has been doing?"

"Hmm, well..."

* * *

"General Minna Dietlinde Wilcke has remained in the Karlsland Military and has risen to a four star rank. She pretty much runs the Karlsland Military now. Her daughter, Alina Wilcke, has a close friendship with Mio's daughter, Nori, just like their mothers.

General Mio Sakamoto has remained in the Fuso Military. You could say Mio is to Fuso as Minna is to Karlsland. The two have pretty much mirrored each other in their respective countries. Mio's daughter, First Lieutenant Nori Sakamoto, has met and fallen in love with a young man named First Lieutenant Akira Akiyama. The two met in the Fuso Navy. Nori has taken up looking after Ayame and Kamiko Miyafuji.

Gertrude Barkhorn officially retired three years ago in 1965 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She spends her days now running a family business with her younger sister Chris Barkhorn. Her daughter Seiglinde Barkhorn has grown up and walked almost identical steps as her mother. If you were to put her next to a twenty two year old Trude, you would think they were twins.

Erica Hartmann also officially retired three years ago in 1965, but never advanced past the rank of First Lieutenant. She's rather proud to have maintained that rank throughout her service career, though she could have easily been promoted had she desired it. For whatever reason, Erica now runs a flight school. Perhaps because of her daughter's interest in flying, or perhaps for her own love of it. She personally teaches several of the other Strike Witch children.

Brigadier General Charlotte E. Yeager, or Shirley, has remained in the military. Over the years, she has continued testing new speed equipment, but has yet to find any technology that can surpass her in free flight speed. Unaided by any sort of flight equipment, be it a Striker Unit or even a Rocket Booster, she has managed to hold a hypersonic speed record at Mach 5.5. Her daughter, Allison Yeager, has developed a similar interest in speed, and although she is still learning, Allison has already proven herself a formidable speed witch.

Francesca Lucchini retired from the Romagnan Air Force soon after returning from time travel at the rank of First Lieutenant. Since then, she has devoted her time raising her daughter, Luciana Lucchini, and continues to teach her everything she knows. When I say everything, I mean everything... like daughter, like grabby mother.

Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen retired from the Soumus Air Force in 1953 at the rank First Lieutenant. Aleksandra Vladimirovna Litvyak, or Sanya, retired from the Orussia Army at the same time and with the same rank. The two do not hide their love for each other from anyone and have raised their daughters to be indifferent about the sexuality of others. Both of their daughters turned out to be heterosexual and have fallen in love. Before you ask, the reason two lesbians both have daughters, and they went through a natural pregnancy and everything, is because both had a moment of weakness in one night stands, though they were a little over a year apart from each other. They never saw the fathers of their daughters afterward.

Lynette Bishop retired from the Britannian Air Force in 1956 with the rank of First Lieutenant. She and her daughter, Diana Bishop, like to travel between Britannia and Fuso, and do so on a regular basis.

Pierrette Henriette Clostermann, or Perrine, retired from the Gallian Air Force in 1956 with the rank of Captain. She and her daughter, First Lieutenant Louise Clostermann, travel with Lynne and Diana to and from Fuso regularly. Louise sometimes doesn't travel with the group as she has duties as an officer in the Gallian Air Force now, but she makes the trip every chance she gets. Louise has fallen in love with Fuso Army First Lieutenant Kenji Katou, son of Takeko Katou.

Rei Miyafuji retired from the Fuso Imperial Navy at the rank Second Lieutenant as soon as the group returned from their time travels in 1952. This was before the Fuso Imperial Militaries were reformed into the Fuso Self Defense Forces in 1955. Rei has a very close relationship with her daughter, Second Lieutenant Kamiko Miyafuji. After Kamiko's memories of 2012 battles were restored, their relationship has become more sisterly than anything.  
General Kye Miyafuji has remained in the military, has been permanently appointed as General of the Allied Forces, and is the only person in the world that carries a Five-Star General rank. As the leader of the Allied Forces, she attends the world conferences held with the various leaders of the world's nations, including the three leaders of the three Neuri Tribes. There are times when she cannot be contacted. Only the other twelve Strike Witches know where she goes at those times.

The Prodigal Witch Yoshika Miyafuji retired from the military as soon as the group returned from time travel. She has become somewhat of a miracle worker with her ability to use True Zen to significantly improve her healing capacity. While she cannot treat everyone in the world, she is commonly called on to heal those that no other person can. She openly works with other healing witches to improve their abilities as well. Her daughter, First Lieutenant Ayame Miyafuji, is the splitting image of Yoshika. She inherited her mother's overly powerful healing magic, without the True Zen ability. Just like several of the other daughters, Ayame has fallen in love."

* * *

"It seems all of them have adopted happy, peaceful lives."

"Yes, they have. And after everything they have been through, they deserve it."

"Didn't several of them already retire from the military before 1952?"

"Yes, actually, some of them did. However, during the time travel period, all of them returned to active duty, and this carried over when they returned to 1952. Most of them retired a second time, but a few still remain in the military."

"So, what about you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm just going to watch over them like a good little goddess."

"Tell me, how do you exist in two places at once? And furthermore, how does one of your existences remain mortal while your existence here is that of a goddess? Grandma Yami can't do that, and she's a goddess, too!"

The blonde, purple battle kimono clad goddess smiled at the young, white haired, question filled, girl.

"Well, my young prot g , I am different than my younger sister."

"How different?"

"Just different. Now run along. Go say hi to your mother and grandmother for me."

"'Kay!" The girl vanished in the blink of an eye, soon to be replaced by an older white haired girl, or rather young woman, and a black haired young man.

"To what do I owe this honor, Yami, Zen?"

"We just wanted to drop by and see what you were up to." Yami said.

"Oh, I'm just watching over my mortal self and the other Strike Witches. Your granddaughter asked how I can exist here and there at the same time."

"A simple task for the all mighty Goddess of the Seven Stars." Zen said.

Kye merely laughed at Zen's response. "Indeed. I've also been watching a completely separate timeline."

"I see it on your second holo-monitor." Yami said. "That looks like Yoshika and Lynne running laps on the runway at the Dover Base."

"That's right. In this separate timeline, things happened a bit differently. None of us ever entered the mortal world, so the Miyafuji Family Line has different origins here. One thing remains unchanged, though."

"What's that?"

"Yoshika is as gifted in this other timeline as in this one."

"She's something else." Zen said. "Shall we watch her save the world in this timeline as well?"

"The Neuroi Curse guy wants to see how the hero defeats the neuroi?" Kye teased.

"You said none of us ever entered the mortal world in that timeline, so I couldn't have cursed the Neuri Tribe."

"You're right." Kye said. "In this timeline, the Nueri Tribe and the Neuroi are two separate entities, rather than one being a cursed race of the other. They have nothing to do with each other."

"Interesting." Zen said.

"I wonder what would happen in this timeline if I were to place a Kye Miyafuji there."

"You shouldn't." Yami said.

"Oh, but Yami, I'm curious!" Kye said. "I'll give it some thought either way. I may or may not. If I do, I'll make myself eighteen years old and perhaps an older cousin to Yoshika this time, instead of her aunt."

"Crafty." Yami said.

"I wonder..." Kye muttered.

* * *

**Musical Inspiration**

I want to take this opportunity to share some of the inspiration I had for certain chapters in Worldwide Liberation and Return. By that, I mean chapters I wrote with a music in mind. Here are the songs which have provided inspiration.

**SW: Worldwide Liberation - Orrusia Arc Chapter 28 "The Black Aura"** - Fear by Disturbed - The specific scene is where Kye is overcome by the Black Aura and launches the Blade of Oblivion technique. The scene is written to roughly the first forty five seconds of the song.

**SW: Worldwide Liberation - Final Arc Chapter 36 "The Prodigal Witch"** - Nemo by Nightwish - The specific scene is where Kye charges the Neuroi Queen and fails to defeat her with a White Aura empowered True Reppuzan and up until Yoshika interrupts Kye's Pillar of Light spell. The scene is written to the song starting at about 2:20 and continues to the end of the song.

**SW: Worldwide Liberation - Final Arc Chapter 36 "The Prodigal Witch"** - Egao no Mahou from the Strike Witches 2 Soundtrack - This specific scene is where Yoshika and the Strike Witches rally to defeat the Neuroi Queen's Guard and the Neuroi Queen herself. The scene is written to the entire full length version of the song.

**SW: Worldwide Liberation - Alternate Ending "Battle of the Gods"** - Kissing the Shadows by Children of Bodom - This specific scene is where the Goddess Kye and God Zen fight after Yoshika defeats the Neuroi Queen. This part of the scene lasts until shortly after the Goddess Kye uses the Light Nova technique. The scene is written to the song from the beginning up until about 2:07. The scene then continues with a different song.

**SW: Worldwide Liberation - Alternate Ending "Battle of the Gods"** - Tornado of Souls by Megadeth - This part of the scene starts shortly after the Goddess Kye uses the Light Nova technique. She then proceeds to use the Blades of the Heavens and Pillar of Light combo technique. The scene is written to the song starting at about 2:08 and continues to the rest of the song.

**SW: Return - Liberion Arc Chapters 17 "Recent Occurance" and Chapter 18 "Understanding"** - The Game by Disturbed - This specific scene is where Zen shows up in the Dream World and talks to Kye shortly before two engage in battle. The part of the scene written to the music starts when Kye and Zen are talking before the fight and ends after Kye's initial Overwhelming Barrage attacks. The scene is written to roughly the first fifty five seconds of the song.

**SW: Return - European Arc Chapter 30 "To Do What You Must"** - Ever Dream by Nightwish - This scene starts when Kye shows up on the battlefield after Supreme Commander Xale defeats the witches. The two talk for a bit, then Kye releases her immortal power as the song picks up. The scene is written to roughly the first sixty seconds of the song.

**SW: Return - Final Arc Chapter 34 "To Protect Them All"** - Anyone, Anymore by Lovex - This scene is split into a couple scenes. It starts when Kye drops out of the sky and attacks Zalen to protect Yoshika and the others from him. The scene the music is written to follows the battle between Kye and Zalen only. The scene ends when Zalen realizes that Kye is the Goddess of the Seven Stars. The scene is written to the entire song.

**SW: Return - Final Arc Chapter 35 "The Neuri Tribe"** - Gethsemane by Nightwish - This scene is written to Yoshika's casting of Zen Serenity and ends when the spell ends. The scene is written to the song starting at roughly 3:02 and lasting until the end of the song.

**SW: Return - Final Arc Chapter 35 "The Neuri Tribe"** - Yakusoku no Sora e ~Watashi no Ita Basho~ from the Strike Witches Movie Soundtrack - This scene starts when Kye (as the Goddess of the Seven Stars) grants Yoshika's wish toward the end of the chapter and lasts until the end of the chapter. The scene is written to the entire full length version of the song.

* * *

**Story Recommendations**

I also want to take this opportunity to recommend a few Strike Witches stories written by other FanFiction authors. None of these recommendations are requests by any of the authors. This is solely my doing. I very highly recommend the first three, but the following recommendations should not be ignored! All of these stories are worth to read them!

**Strike Witches: Reformed and Reloaded! by Poke2201** - This is a wonderful story and the first Strike Witches fic I came across. It is very well written and I find it captivating.

**Wolf by Destro-of-the-worldses** - This is a shorter story and is complete. The story follows the antics of a rather unique OC, Wolf. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through it. The story is well worth the read.

**Posthumous by Eye of a Hawk** - This is a very short story, readable in mere minutes, but it is very strong and meaningful. Take a few minutes and read through it!

**Strike Witches: The Chosen One by atikabubu** - This story has a rather interesting OC main character, Toshiro Lucas Akayama, and focuses almost solely on him. I've had the privilege of Beta-Reading this story and have enjoyed it. The story has recently been published and further chapters will be posted at the author's discretion. I will not discuss unreleased chapters with anyone, so please do not ask!

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge Rewrite Vol1: Rebirth by Sky EXE** - This story does not introduce a new OC, but rather radically changes an existing character. Tri-Edge is going through a rewrite!

**Edit**: Three stories have been removed. I was informed they were canceled.

* * *

**And this brings a close to Strike Witches: Return.**

**I want to throw a thank you to all the readers that have stuck with it until now. If you didn't, then you probably aren't reading this message here, and if you are, then that means YOU SKIPPED! Go read the rest of the story! Go, shoo, get, go read!  
**

**As with Strike Witches: Worldwide Liberation, I will do the same thing here. I don't believe in asking for reviews, but since the story is now complete, it would mean a lot if you did. Whether you want to praise the story, or you have other opinions about it, I want to hear them.**

**I left an opening for another story at the end of this epilogue. I may or may not venture into another story, but if I do it will be a while. If I do write another story, it will not be a sequel to Worldwide Liberation or Return, but a separate story with its own timeline.**

**Thanks again to all the readers! Without you, this would not have been possible. With this, Strike Witches: Return is marked complete.  
**

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**************If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).**


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